A Long Overdue Update

I recently had a family member tell me how much this blog meant to her. It really surprised me because I didn't think that many people read it, especially family members. I felt guilty because I've done you guys a real disservice in neglecting to update. I'm going to work hard to be better about that.

We've moved back to the mainland. I was really worried that such a drastic change would throw Tristan off, but he's handled it pretty well.

The week before we moved was a living hell. I understand why it was hard since his schedule was all screwed up, but he had some difficult behavior.

My daughter came downstairs one night after the kids had gone to sleep. She was crying and rubbing her eyes. When asked what was wrong she complained of vaginal pain. I had her lie back and examined her. She had a tiny abrasion. I figured it was from her itching (after all, five year olds aren't exactly champion wipers,) but she said that Tristan had used an ink pen on her.

I immediately woke Tristan up and talked to him about it. He, of course, denied everything, but when I told him Sofie said it was in the afternoon, he said "No, it wasn't! It was in the morning." He ended up being confined to his room the next day and has been under close watch since then. He is not allowed to play with his sisters unsupervised. If one of them is upstairs, he stays down. If he's upstairs, they're downstairs. It's exhausting, but it's what needs to happen for everyone to stay safe.

Now that we're back on the mainland, he really seems to be thriving. He's been playing outside almost constantly. Tristan is enjoying the cool weather and is learning new things about our new climate. Keeping busy outside really seems to help keep the bad behavior to a minimum.

Now the hunt begins for a new doctor. We close on our new house on Monday and will enroll the children in school that afternoon (hopefully, they'll start later on the same week.) I'm crossing my fingers we're able to find good doctors.

Vog and A Visit from Grandparents

We had a much easier time for the last four days, but we broke that streak today. I was really feeling good about Tristan's mood.

As usual, we went to the play therapist on Friday. Tristan and I had a Mommy/Son session. We started with a foot massage (for him) and I told him all the good things he had done over the last week. Since we'd had a rough week, it took me a few minutes to come up with a lot of good things. I felt terrible about that because I know it must feel awful to only be scolded. I was reminded that when I do acknowledge Tristan for his good behavior, I need to make eye contact because of his hearing impairment.

We saw Tristan's psychiatrist yesterday and we discussed the difficulties of the last week. He was of the opinion that perhaps the vog (volcanic smoke/ash smog) or the pollen was causing allergies which exacerbated his symptoms. I guess that's feasible, considering it's almost exactly a year to the day that Tristan was admitted to the hospital.

The psychiatrist suggested giving him Benadryl when he exhibits allergy symptoms, but he hasn't had any noticeable symptoms.

Anyways, today was a rough day, with him tantruming all day. He was incredibly resistant to doing his homework. Everything was a trigger. We tried to get him to calm down, but he just screamed.

My mother-in-law is visiting and yesterday we did not get home until after 8 p.m. We didn't realize we would be out that late, so we didn't bring Tristan's evening medication. He fell asleep in the car on the way home and wouldn't be wakened no matter how hard we tried. So we ended up not giving him his medication last night and it may have effected his behavior today. We've seldom missed any doses and I can't ever recall missing his evening dose. All medication was given on time today, so we'll see if it makes any difference in his behavior.

This week and next will be super busy with my inlaws being in town. Hopefully, it's uneventful and peaceful for all involved and Tristan enjoys his time with his grandparents.

I'm looking into Reactive Attachment Disorder treatment and behavior modification plans at the suggestion of a friend to see if it might not help us. Trista doesn't have RAD, but the plans have helped other children.