life is almost good - A Wrinkle In Time

Life with a special needs kid can be so very humbling.

My 8 year old son has ADHD. And yes, I do consider A child with ADHD to be special needs. He has needs that are special at school and at home.

Today I had to leave work early to pick up child #2, R, because he was struggling so badly at school. There was a substitute teacher in his class today, and R told me the routine changed. That is a trigger for him.

We got to the car and I told him we were going to go out to lunch to talk. When we got there, he calmly came over and sat on my lap.

“I don’t think this medication is working right.” He said with a frown. My heart shattered into a million pieces.

Watching your child struggle with anything is difficult, but watching your child struggle day in and day out with himself is utterly heartbreaking. I feel helpless. The only thing I can do to make it just a little bit better is to understand him, to listen to him, and to love him.

We had a nice lunch with our favorite fish at our favorite Chinese restaurant and talked a little bit more about his day and what went wrong. Then we went home.

I immediately put him in a warm bath with lavender oil, bubbles and Epsom salts. I lit candles for him and had Alexa turn on some relaxing music. We read a little bit of A Wrinkle In Time and he was calm the whole time. He has been perfectly calm in the hours since then.

You see, there are ways to deal with a child with ADHD, but they aren’t always easy, aren’t always convenient, and aren’t always feasible.

I am still learning how to parent this 8 year old child. Some days are incredibly difficult and I don’t have the patience or the time to deal with it. I hope he can forget those days. But I won’t.

Today I am tired. Today life feels too heavy and I feel too weak. Today, I will continue to shower him with love and patience, even though I can’t wait to send him to bed, crack open the wine and cry into a pillow on my husband’s lap. I won’t be able to sleep.

Today, I can only hope that what we are going through with R is just A Wrinkle In Time.

– L –