I should have known better than to post about how calm life has been lately. Every time I look a gift horse in the mouth, another one bites me on the a**. Yesterday evening, I noted a small disturbance in the Force coming from the family room, but my husband was in there, and his voice didn’t have that “drop everything and run” tone…so I just went about my business. Until a sobbing Challenging One tore past me and ran out of the house. I followed to find him sitting in the middle of the driveway, just screaming hysterically…no words. At this point, I still had no idea what set him off, and he was in no shape to tell me. He finally calmed enough to spit out, “The Exuberant One is choking!”. Call me a bad mama, but I did not immediately run inside. Like I said, my husband’s voice didn’t suggest a serious crisis. I sat on the driveway with The Challenging One until he was able to get up and walk in with me. The Exuberant One was fine; he had just swallowed a piece of candy wrong and scared himself. He recovered much more quickly than The Challenging One did.
Now, The Challenging One can change moods as quickly as I can rip through really good chocolate. But this was different. From calm to panic attack in a matter of seconds. And the fact that he was irrational enough to run out of the house is even scarier. Knowing his therapist will ask (this is the second panic attack in a few weeks), I tried to think of whether he had ever had panic attacks before. And the answer is yes. I think. Because it looks different without the rage. But for the love of all that’s holy, as awful as it was, it was safe. The rage kept him in my face…and inside. Now that it’s gone, we clearly need to teach him how to be safe during a panic attack….and and how to not get the police called on us. It’s so hot and steamy right now that you won’t find an open door or window within 100 miles, and no one goes outside unless they have to. So we don’t have to worry too much about a neighbor calling the police. But we clearly have some work to do. It won’t be easy. How do you teach someone how to be rational in the throes of irrational panic? But we’ve seen other miracles this summer, so we’ll work for this one, too.
I'm a mom to three stair steps (all 3 born in under 3 years), one of whom struggles with OCD, ADHD and a few other things. I wrote professionally for 12 years before quitting to stay home with my kids.
Life on the Stair Steps 
Praying for that miracle for you. I hate when a new wrench is thrown into the already-chaotic works. Sending thoughts of calm.
Thank you!
BTW – I nominated you for a Liebster award. Well-deserved. 😉
Here are your 10 questions:
1. What is your best holiday memory?
2. Do you like to collect a particular something?
3. What frightens you?
4. Which bug do you like best?
5. Who is the person who makes you laugh?
6. Where do you go when you need to get away from it all?
7. What is your guilty pleasure?
8. Where would your dream holiday be?
9. What is the one talent you wish you had?
10. If you could meet three famous people, living or dead, who would you choose?
Wow, thank you! That is quite the confidence booster…and the timing couldn’t be better, as I spent the day researching the logistics of starting a freelance writing/editing business. This seems very fortuitous! I will delve into this tomorrow.
Awesome! Oohhhhh…let me know if you find any good resources. I’m working on being in that boat too. Good luck!
Will do! I’m already surprised at how behind I am as far as changes in the field. “Key word density” was not in the rule book last time I wrote professionally!
Ouch – that’s a new one for me too. lol
Can’t help but wonder – how does your husband deal with your son, especially when he’s challenging and being disrespectful towards the two of you? That was once a difficulty between my stepson and I, when he would sometimes push my buttons to the point where I quite literally felt like putting his head through a brick wall.
We’re a good team. I pretty much set the structure since I’m a SAHM and consider this my “job,” but there are times when I’ve had it, and my husband always steps up. I step in when he’s losing his patience, but I make sure to say it like, “Let’s try this…” instead of “you’re doing it wrong”. We also use lots of “calm down” hand gestures. It’s important to never let the child see any disagreement about how to handle things. If your stepson is anything like mine, he’ll exploit any crack he sees. At the same time, seeing cracks makes him more anxious, which just leads to more oppositional behavior. I do sometimes wish my husband would be a bit stronger on the “don’t talk to your mother like that” front, but that actually breaks my own rule of not taking it personally. It’s not about me; it’s about the turmoil inside my son’s head becoming more than he can handle. That doesn’t mean we allow it, just that we try to take the personal angle out.