So here we are, absolutely stable- no meltdowns, no lying, no stealing, (in this case, no throwing up at the table just to have control, cutting up new clothes, or kicking the cat), minimal backtalk, and a respectful attitude 98% of the time. We've had no RAD behavior to speak of for weeks, months and now into a year. And except for an occasional recurrance of habitual arguing and a lie here and there, I'm thinking we are cured! This is a practically perfect kid. We're home free! Life is good!
Well, we had a week of company over Balloon Fiesta week, out-of -town family with five kids from ages three to thirteen. They were lovely. We enjoyed a week of acting like New Mexico tourists and packed the days and stayed up late. Good times.
Toward the end of the week, I walked into my tween's room, to hear one of my other kids say, "What's that black stuff all over your face?" and my tween replied, "Nothing. There's no black stuff." Deja vu.
"Look at me," I say. Yep. There's black stuff all right. "What is that?"
"Nothing. There's no black stuff."
"Where's the rest of the mess?" I say, as a see a few spots peeking out from under a strategically place pile of shirts. I follow the spots to the closet where I find a large bird feather, some scissors, three decapitated gel pens, and a pile of paper. Oh. And lots of ink all over the floor.
"I was doing a craft project."
"Honey, you're first clue that something might be wrong is this- if you have to take your project into your closet and close the door, you probably shouldn't be doing it." We proceeded to talk about what was going on and I discovered that the five sweet kiddos visiting my house were doing some very normal, obnoxious kid stuff that set my fragile one over the edge.
Moral of the story- we cannot stop paying attention, never think that our job is accomplished, and not be surprised or react when things come back out of the dark, locked rooms in our child's life. Sometimes it doesn't take much to bring it all back. And by the way, it was only a moment of "crazy" and we're back on track with a few hugs, some good words, and a bottle of carpet cleaner.
