Off to a Good Start

Last week flew by. So far the boys seem to be in a good routine and I barely see them. I've been asked to sign papers and given snippets of information. I've also been subjected to a few soft "shushes" and a couple of  "hate messages". This is communicated through the dog such as Colin in his usual sing-songy voice, "Kill her" or "Sumter says he hates you" while he is petting his dog. As these are non-disruptive, I either laugh or ignore it. Not sure why he does this. I can't tell if he was triggered, in a bad mood, jealous over the time I spend with "his" dog or just joking. We've been through so much worse, this is hardly worth mentioning other than to point out that this is the extent of the bad behavior we now see.

Friday Night Lights

Friday night, I came home to the two younger boys in the basement painting white t-shirts with washable paint.   I was warned not to let the dog down there. They were getting ready for the first football game of the season at their high school. Each game has a theme and that night was "America". The boys were adorning their tees with red, white & blue images.

After Sumter was fed and walked, I curled up on the couch with the pup. As I was chilling out, I could hear Colin in the bathroom cursing. He seemed to be talking to a group, addressing them as "bitches". I couldn't make out what was being said other than a bunch of profanities. As he walked into the living room, I said "What?" to make sure he was not talking to me earlier. He calmly looked at me with a blank expression, as if the brief curse-word laden soliloquy I overheard never happened.

Soon after middle-son was upstairs and they were having a contest as to who could talk "creepier". I later asked my 17 year old if everything was o.k. in school and explained my concern that Colin may have had a run-in with some boys. Middle-son assured me that he knew of no such event and his brother seemed fine.

Several hours later they came home from the game and seemed to have a great time. It has been reassuring to see the boys getting on so well.

Meet and Greet

Saturday morning was the first cross country meet of the season. Hubs and I packed up the dog and Colin while middle-son had to go to work. Colin has made Sumter the team mascot and takes pride in showing him off to the boys. Unfortunately this meet had a no-dogs-allowed policy and we had to watch from the perimeters with the other dogs. Colin has improved over last year and was in the middle of the pack as opposed to one of the last. He also is a few inches taller and no longer the smallest.

Upon arriving home, he collapsed on the couch and fell into a deep sleep. I had a friend who was in town with his 8 year old son visiting family and had made arrangements to have a pool day at my sister's house. As I mentioned in my last post, our house is not in shape for company due to our first floor makeover in progress. Luckily my friend's family lives close to my sister and my sister has an open-door policy!

Unable to wake Colin up, I took the dog and went to my sister's. A few hours later, Colin, hubs and middle-son came out. We had a nice afternoon and the "problem child" turned out to be Sumter. Towards dinnertime, my sister had several friends arrive for a potluck/cookout and our pup started to growl at a few of the guests. Other than that, we had a nice time for most of the evening.

Middle-son had to leave early for a babysitting gig and my nephew had some friends over. This made Colin the odd-man out and after a while he was bored. We had to leave before I had wanted, just before 8:30 p.m.. Our son was becoming agitated and had been sitting in the car for 10 minutes before I was done with my goodbyes. Once safely at home, we went our separate ways. I passed out early due to consuming two glasses of wine.

Sunday was our day to recuperate and get ready for the week ahead.

So far the week has been relatively uneventful as a routine is getting set. The boys get up early, I have to help make sure Colin is awake. After a bit of rushing about they are out the door between 6:30 - 6:45 a.m. Colin has cross country practice after school. My early birds arrive home before I do and fall into a coma. I usually don't see them until an hour or so before my bedtime where they have a late dinner together.

Many parents are heartbroken that they are not able to share quality time with their miso-child. I on the other hand feel that less is more. I rather have brief encounters that are not unpleasant. I am content to observe from a distance and see that my son is relatively content. It does my heart good to see my boys getting along. I feel so very lucky.....

We are a work-in-progress!