Emptying difficult child's room

[idohope]

After third day on Abilify, difficult child talked to me last night about fixing up her room. She has hoarding issues and it is a disaster.

Her idea was to put everything into bins to empty the room and then paint it and then go thru each bin and only put back in what she needs/wants and has a place for. She agreed that she had outgrown some stuff (like boxes of dress up clothes) and that it was time for them to go! What child is this?

So I figured I would work on that over a week (packing everything up). Then she wakes us this am to find out that one of her pet hermit crabs has escaped and she can not find it. She is upset but agrees to go to camp when I say I will take the day off and pack up her room and hopefully find the crab in the process.

What a long day. I am about 1/2 done. No crab yet. Except for clear garbage (food wrappers etc) I am not throwing stuff out. I am organizing a bit as I pack the bins. One has two years of every paper that has come home from school...

I am so hoping that she will be able to follow thru and get rid of stuff when we go thru the bins. Getting it all out of her room is a major step forward and I hope that will motivate her to keep it functional.

I can not wait to get the carpet cleaned!!! I have not been able to in years and there are both pet and human stains that really need cleaning.

Could this be the medications kicking in?

 

[AnnieO]

Keeping my fingers crossed for you!

Onyxx had hermit crabs, too - they never escaped, they starved to death. And she was on Abilify once - disaster.

But ya know? I hope this is the medications. I hope this helps you. Getting rid of stuff won't be so difficult - getting her to keep from hoarding more in the future may be the issue.

 

[confuzzled]

::i am jealous::

this is the most awesome post i've read lately....whether its the abilify or some magical lightbulb going on, i hope it continues.

go your difficult child!!

ps. our hermit crabs died (we thought!) or maybe they were molting, I don't know, but i'd have been skeeved if they escaped...worst pet ever. lol!

 

[susiestar]

It sounds as though this might be the right medicine. Regardless, this is a very hopeful thing.

Once the room is cleaned take photos of every surface, drawer, etc... and an overall room photo. When it is time to clean she can use these pictures as a guide to see where to put things away. This can be very effective for some kids.

 

[idohope]

Found crab 8 hours into room emptying. difficult child was home by that time. We danced with joy. I could not beleive how far that thing had gotten and what it had crawled through (over? under?). it was in a corner opposite its tank under a pile of junk three feet high.

difficult child was not feeling well today, stomach and headache which she has had for a couple of days. Maybe the medications. She has not connected the two (medications and headache/stomachache). I see psychiatrist on Monday or will check in sooner if she continues to feel so bad. So she did not go to practice this afternoon but she did help me with her room. She filled two large garbage bags with stuff to be thrown out. I was floored. Goodbye headless barbie; goodbye foam craft kit with half the pieces missing....

But her room is pretty much cleared. We stayed up a little late to get it finished. We are exhausted. She is sound asleep. On the floor of my bedroom which is her usual spot. Lol. Clean or not she was not sleeping in her room. Hopefully we can work up to that.

Thanks for the encouragement and the tip about taking the pictures. I will definitely do that.