Update

Much has happened since the last time I updated my blog, Christmas and the start of a new decade. January is almost over and it's been quite a month. It's week two into the ADHD meds for Samuel. Week one we saw great focus changes but a lot of irritability, lack of sleep and not eating. Week two the side effects have waned but he's back to the same issues. This week it was back to the same behaviors at school, talking in the hall, talking too much during class, chasing someone around the class with a trashcan(?), not following directions, blah, blah. You get the idea. Homework has been the usual nightmare. Mornings, no better .

I was watching him getting ready for school yesterday. He has no trouble with the actual getting out of bed. It's the getting the clothes on, breakfast, brushing the teeth,putting the shoes on where the difficulty is. The kid gets distracted by anything. And when I mean anything, I mean anything. He has one sock on, and he sees his light saber. Suddenly, he is the middle of a fight with an invisible jedi. Five minutes later, he is still up there with one sock on. He comes downstairs to eat breakfast. His sister is eating. She starts singing a song. This song makes him think about his electric piano that has no batteries. He runs upstairs to look for some. While upstairs, he sees his light saber again. I could go on and on. By the time we get to school, everybody is worn out. Samuel, because he knows that doing these things should be easy. And he feels dumb because he can't.
One day, after a particularly hard day, he looked at me and said, "I wish you weren't normal so you could feel how I feel." It's heartbreaking.

So, this is why we began the medication. Our doctor did say that most people do see changes on stimulants at the beginning. But they don't always continue. Our next appointment is not until the end of February. I think we will continue him on this for a bit longer so we really can get a feel for how he is doing on it.

I'm discouraged. I know this is just the beginning of our journey on medication. But, I'm already tired. I am going to fill out the paperwork for Waldorf and see how much financial aid we get. I am still not convinced that Waldorf is the place for him. But is public school? Sometimes, I wish God could just send me an e-mail with some instructions. Because right now, I'm confused.

Here are some pics from the last few months.