What I've Learned This Week

     The meeting with the teacher didn't happen.  Long story.  Hoping to get it all arranged (at least briefly) before Etienne's first day next week  There is very little that we can control and, ultimately, we can't do much to ease Etienne's anxiety or behaviors either.  It's totally a God thing.  I've been discouraged this week, feeling that I'm spinning my wheels with my rhyming songs, fun filled "memory making" summer days, ridiculous routines.  Some days it seems for nothing.  Poor pity party, I know.  I am not going for martyr.  Not wanting sympathy.  Just sharing parenting in our house this week.
     Some of this was brought on by yesterday.  Etienne had pulled an all nighter, literally.  At 3:09AM, he came in and woke us up, giving me a detailed account of everything that went on after we thought he was asleep (this is creepy, trust me).  He hadn't slept at all.  So we lay in his bed, then he laid between us, then on a nest on the floor. Repeat.  Repeat again.  My heart broke as I lay there thinking that if any other kid couldn't fall asleep, we heard about it within a half hour or so because we are their comforter.  My other kids trust me too soothe them back to sleep.  Etienne lied alone for 6.5 hrs before seeking his parents.  Ugh.
     I went to work all day long and Ryan was home with the exhausted child.  Should have been a challenging day, right?  Etienne was a dream kid for his father.  They had very little structure and nothing fun or educational.  Don't get my wrong, Ryan is the best dad in the world, but he is running out of days to prepare for his students, so he was trying to get his room prepared and the entourage tagged along to school.  No working on letters, doing chores, reading and swimming.  Once I returned home, however, I seemed to throw a wrench in the well behaved kid.
     I know,  I know it was at the end of a day.  Between 5pm and bedtime it is usually difficult for Etienne anyway.  It just felt like it was my fault.  I'm battling some hopelessness, some sleeplessness and tossing the RAD into it stinks.  So here is a list of the sweet smelling stuff I've learned in parenting this week.  I'm going for a glass half full here.

• Silly Putty expands in a drain.  Thanks to my husband and brother, I know how to undo and reattach the drain to get it out.
• Dye free, fragrance free detergent takes paint off a wall.  But it also gets of marker, ink and crayon.
• Every time I open my bible, God throws the exact verse I need in my face.  Then my brother often texts me the same one.
• An entire package of gum can be consumed on the sly, in under 3 minutes, when I'm putting my shoes on.  
• I don't need sleep to see 20 patients in  day.  I just need God's grace.  And patience from my nurses.
• No matter how loud it gets in the mini van, Ryan is a master at only hearing Dave Matthews Band.
• Etienne could seriously compete as a world class athlete.  For real.  Its the motivation that's missing.  My dad and father-in-law are probably shaking their heads that I just realized this.  It was watching his front flip into a dive at the pool that convinced me.
• Romans 12:12 "Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."
• Breech natural births are awesome.  Not ideal and dangerous but nonetheless amazing.
• It's only Thursday.