« Be anxious for what? | Main | LT's tics »
Saturday, March 25, 2006
happy days are here again
T and I had a big, heated, personal argument tonight. Just wanted to make sure I presented a balanced and fair portrait of our lives. It's not all new lenses and ... let me think, something I've done for him... uh, not all new lenses and -- biscuits and gravy. I make him a lot of biscuits and gravy. Anyway. It's not all new lenses and biscuits and gravy; we fight. Then we make up. And oooh, is the making-up part nice, once it's past that bumpy and uncomfortable "I'm not sure I'm ready to make up; I think I want to burn with anger against you for just a little while longer first" stage. I hate fighting so much. Man, am I glad that's over.
I'm also glad (segue! no asterisks! go me!) that the audio quality on these recordings I'm transcribing is good. That makes such a difference in my mood. Give me an ongoing job where I have to repeatedly and continuously attempt to discern what two people are saying in an interview that appears to have been held either at a college basketball game or inside a jet engine, and I get terribly cranky. Whereas nice clear audio that enables me to rattle along at 65% without missing a word even when both people talk faster than I do (and anyone who has ever heard me talk can attest that this means very fast), and I go around smiling and humming and tipping flowers up to look at them and all those other stereotypical happy-woman sorts of things.
As if that wasn't enough to make my mood all that it should be, we had "quizzing" for Awana tonight. This is a sort of Jeopardy sort of thing where the kids from Awana clubs all around our area get together and answer questions about all the Bible verses and things they've been learning all year. It has served as an excellent gauge of LT's mental/emotional stability for the three years we've done it. The first year, his tics had really just begun to manifest themselves and he became a veritable ticcing machine during the competition. It was so, so painful to watch that poor anxious boy deal with a situation that was totally new to him, and a room full of strangers, and being up in front of people for maybe the fourth or fifth time in his life when he was also having to deal with these impulses that would take over his body any time he got nervous, which, of course, went beyond 'quite frequently' and well into the realm of 'constantly'. That was, I am not exaggerating, one of the top ten worst days of my parenting career. Last year was better but still a stressful situation for all of us. This year was fabulous. He sat up there, calm and completely in control of himself, seeming quite self-assured, laughing composedly with the crowd when he accidentally tossed an answer card across the room, answering questions. It took a great deal of self-restraint to keep myself from dashing up on the stage and kissing him repeatedly just for the simple joy of it. Several separate times. AND he went to sleep without a single problem tonight, praise God.
So. Life is good right now in our household. It's a busy weekend for all of us; I have two separate jobs going, and T is taking LT to again help his friend prepare for his move. So with that (notice the time and see above re: argument and transcribing), I'm going to go snuggle up to my nicely-made-up-with husband and sleep as long as C will let me in the morning. I wonder if I could nicely bribe God to keep her happily in bed until at least 8:30.
Comments
Yay! Good times, good times.
Posted by: jenn at March 25, 2006 05:28 PM
Can I ask you about LT's tics? WHat are they like? When did you start noticing them? The reason I ask is that my 4 year old boy sounds a little like your boy:) He had his picture made on Friday and during the first few minutes (until he warmed up to the lady) he rubbed his nose constantly! I would've chalked it up to allergies or something like that - it was the photographer that said he looked nervous. So please forgive my curiosity. It's just coming from another concerned mom:)
BTW, I love your blog!
Posted by: Shannon at March 26, 2006 01:30 PM
Shannon, of course you can ask! If our experiences can help anyone, I'm glad to be able to help. In fact I think I'll do up a really quick post about this.
Posted by: Rachel at March 26, 2006 01:48 PM
