gcvmom
Here we go again!
difficult child 2 has been on Tegretol XR a week now and I am really wishing we could just fast forward another month because his behavior is not getting any better. Although his math/science teacher said he appears to be less impulsive this week. And he has been able to get his homework done more quickly.
That said, afternoons and evenings are becoming more and more difficult. He is gradually becoming more irritable, more impulsive, more hyperactive. I don't think it's the Tegretol because he hasn't been on it long enough, right? I just think it's the mania getting worse. He says his head is buzzing most days by the time I pick him up from school, and it shows. He is loud, he is intrusive, he is wild.
He decided to walk up the outside of our stairwell and and on our stair railing (it's a u-shaped stairway, so he was walking on the second flight and the railing of the first flight, if that makes sense) while I was out picking up difficult child 1 from school, and consequently broke part of the drywall on the outside of the steps.
I didn't find out about it until this evening when I noticed the crack in the wall. When I asked difficult child 2 about it, easy child ratted him out. Had I known that happened, I never would have left the three of them alone while husband and I went out for a quick bite for dinner. We got a call at the restaurant from easy child that difficult child 2 had been hitting a chair with a butterfly net, broke the frame of the net, then got into a can of silly string (it was easy child's) and sprayed it all over the bathtub (at least it was in the tub!), then wadded the mess into a giant ball and threw the ball at her back while she was watching TV. We could hear difficult child 2 screaming at easy child in the background as she was explaining this over the phone.
When we got home, I calmly called difficult child 2 to the kitchen to hear his version of what happened. He was very agitated, pacing around, very loud, and very close to exploding. We talked about his choices, what he should have done differently. He got more angry. I asked him to close the curtain over the kitchen doorway and he jerked it and slammed his hand into the wall which REALLY made him mad. I was going to have him do some pushups to try to calm down, but he was screaming by now. He agreed to do some situps there on the floor. Not sure if it helped. I gave him his medications two hours early, gave him a big hug and then sent him back to the livingroom, and called easy child in to hear her version. It pretty much matched what difficult child 2 said, except she was angry about his behavior.
I've already told him he's going to bed at 8:30 tonight. He's sitting nicely with easy child on the couch right now watching TV. He's still animated and loud, but the hostility has subsided (for now). I just told him he has 15 minutes of TV time left, regardless of whether the show is done or not. Hopefully he'll get ready for bed without too much drama.
This should be an interesting weekend. I'm getting flashbacks of last Spring...
That said, afternoons and evenings are becoming more and more difficult. He is gradually becoming more irritable, more impulsive, more hyperactive. I don't think it's the Tegretol because he hasn't been on it long enough, right? I just think it's the mania getting worse. He says his head is buzzing most days by the time I pick him up from school, and it shows. He is loud, he is intrusive, he is wild.
He decided to walk up the outside of our stairwell and and on our stair railing (it's a u-shaped stairway, so he was walking on the second flight and the railing of the first flight, if that makes sense) while I was out picking up difficult child 1 from school, and consequently broke part of the drywall on the outside of the steps.
I didn't find out about it until this evening when I noticed the crack in the wall. When I asked difficult child 2 about it, easy child ratted him out. Had I known that happened, I never would have left the three of them alone while husband and I went out for a quick bite for dinner. We got a call at the restaurant from easy child that difficult child 2 had been hitting a chair with a butterfly net, broke the frame of the net, then got into a can of silly string (it was easy child's) and sprayed it all over the bathtub (at least it was in the tub!), then wadded the mess into a giant ball and threw the ball at her back while she was watching TV. We could hear difficult child 2 screaming at easy child in the background as she was explaining this over the phone.
When we got home, I calmly called difficult child 2 to the kitchen to hear his version of what happened. He was very agitated, pacing around, very loud, and very close to exploding. We talked about his choices, what he should have done differently. He got more angry. I asked him to close the curtain over the kitchen doorway and he jerked it and slammed his hand into the wall which REALLY made him mad. I was going to have him do some pushups to try to calm down, but he was screaming by now. He agreed to do some situps there on the floor. Not sure if it helped. I gave him his medications two hours early, gave him a big hug and then sent him back to the livingroom, and called easy child in to hear her version. It pretty much matched what difficult child 2 said, except she was angry about his behavior.
I've already told him he's going to bed at 8:30 tonight. He's sitting nicely with easy child on the couch right now watching TV. He's still animated and loud, but the hostility has subsided (for now). I just told him he has 15 minutes of TV time left, regardless of whether the show is done or not. Hopefully he'll get ready for bed without too much drama.
This should be an interesting weekend. I'm getting flashbacks of last Spring...