One Week Down...

We made it through the first week of our summer break! After the first couple of days of complaining, the kids have settled in to the routine of doing a little bit of school work to keep their brains working. Mary is doing really well at it and even worked ahead of the "schedule" so she could have an extra day off on Friday. She has also discovered the joy of reading!!! I am sooo excited about this. I have always been a big reader myself. Most of the time, I would much rather sit down with a good book and good cup of coffee than watch tv. So, it is wonderful to see Mary start to develop that habit as well. Last week she read almost a book a day. We had to make a couple of trips to the library to get more books. I hope that continues!!! She was also super focused on writing a new story of her own, typing a story that she had written last year, and working on drawing some new pictures.

All of this focused activity is wonderful... but on the flip side of that, it could also be a sign of being just slightly manic. I hate that I think that way!!! It is awful that whenever she is having a good bout of creativity, I always look for the signs of mania. But it is also a fact of life for us. And this weekend has proven that it could possibly be the sign of a manic or more mixed cycling. She has been "off" and irritable all weekend. It could be the changes in routine (daddy left for his summer job in WV). It could be the excitement of lots of activities (church picnic on Saturday, day spent with friends on Sunday, the extreme heat wave we are having here in GA, etc.) She has admitted that she is feeling overwhelmed and stressed again. Loud noises, physical discomfort, and other things seem to be more stressful than they were last week for her. I had a moment (or two) of panic at the church picnic when she was very irritable and then I could not find her. You know when you just have a gut feeling that something is not right and you need to physically see your child to know that they are ok? I had visions of previous summers when she had done some extreme things like trying to jump from a moving car, or refusing to let me get near her in the mall parking lot (boy didn't we draw attention that day). I did find her and we talked about how if she began to feel overwhelmed enough to run away that she needed to come get me so we could "run away" together (i.e. go to the car and cool off in the AC for a few minutes to regroup). At least she is talking with me about the stress, which is a good thing. For now, we will just keep a close eye on her and hope that the mood levels out again quickly! Prayers appreciated!!!