Just Another Day

Well, in a turn of events that I must admit is not very surprising to me, the kids have lost their allowances this week.

They have managed to lose their allowances before they even got them for the first time ever. That takes some talent, my friends.

It was the fighting that ultimately did them in. At base level, my kids are usually pretty nice with each other, even though they have their moments of sibling rivalry or taunting or fisticuffs sprinkled on top. I think just about every household with more than one child goes through that.

But this morning, oh this morning they were in rare form. From the moment they opened their eyes, there was bickering that escalated into shouting which in turn became a short lived kickfest. The allowances were revoked before 9:30 AM.

Fiver was the one responsible for the kicking, mostly because he cannot match Francie in the War of Words. She can taunt him mercilessly, and his recourse is always the same: Pound her. It's a good thing for her that he has some fairly significant muscle weakness.

In all honesty, today was one of those days where I could not get a grip on Fiver. He was extremely distracted and jittery today, and he was also a little belligerent. Anyone who knows him, will realize how out of character defiance is for him. You usually could not find a more agreeable child, and I'm not exaggerating.

Even his therapist commented on how hard it was to get him to focus; he wasn't even maintaining good eye contact with us today. I tried all the usual "tricks" to bring him around and to help him focus, but they just didn't seem to get the job done today. We finally just called it a day and sent him to bed.

So I am feeling depleted and scattered tonight, and I hope tomorrow is a more peaceful, productive day.

Oh, but I am happy to report that the ENT says that Fiver doesn't need a new set of ear tubes this summer. He had been having problems with his hearing and the fluid that seems to just hang around forever, but he passed his hearing test so that was good news. The ENT thinks that his ear problems are aggravated by his seasonal allergies, so we are going to try a course of aggressive allergy treatment in hopes of keeping his ears clear and keeping him out of the hospital.

I guess that's just a fancy way of saying that we're flying by the seats of our pants, since who knows if that will work for the long run.

Oh well, why should this be any different than any other thing about Fiver?