averygoodun42 | *sigh* Bad timing isn't good

So, On Wednesday, Page had a snack of potato chips at his after-school program. Thursday afternoon, he peed his pants, and Friday morning he punched a kid he doesn't like in the face. Later that day, he peed his pants again. Needless to say, we've all been rather unhappy this weekend.

It seems pretty obvious to me what the cause of his outbursts is, but at the same time, there are other behavioral issues that are at constant play that make me uneasy, like his coasting. Yes, he's only seven (not even - his birthday is in November), but he has become so used to having us do anything for him that he fights doing anything himself. Fights hard.

So, Friday afternoon through Saturday noon (with a break for sleep, of course), I went hard-ass on him. I told him he needed to memorize the first three UU principles (in kid language: We believe: 1. Each and every person is important; 2. All people should be treated fairly and with kindness; 3. That we should accept one another and keep on learning together) and tell me what they mean and WHY we should adhere to them in his own words.

Five hours of that fight was simply getting him to look up the word 'important' in the dictionary on his own (I'd given him basic instructions (the book is organized alphabetically, keywords (and what they are) at the top) and the first three letters of the word). By the sounds he was making, you would have thought I was killing him. Mostly because he wouldn't. Fucking. Listen!

Saturday morning, the next three hours was him fighting writing down the definition of 'important' because he'd "forgotten" the meaning. Uh-huh.

Geoff made me stop around noon while we were on the third principle because Page's attention span had maxed out. Shortly after that, I went upstairs and crashed.

After I came down from my nap, Geoff seemed withdrawn and anxious and... beaten down for the rest of the day. I was headachy and crabby as well, though as the pain meds kicked in, I tried to get him to tell me what was going on with him. He wouldn't open up until bedtime, when he confessed that he was concerned about how I've been so healthy and energetic until the very day I'm no longer covered by insurance.

I had to point out how I had just spent ten hours doing intensive parenting. Of course I was worn out! Two years ago, I wouldn't have been able to manage that (especially with so few meltdowns on my part) because I wouldn't have had the energy for the patience required, let alone the persistence.

However, it is true that my being uninsured is a Very Bad idea. Tomorrow I will call the state plan people and ask outright whether I am eligible for the high-risk pool despite one of their exemptions. If I am not, then I will go to the bank and get a loan to get myself covered under the crappy (but muy affordable) school plan right away.

Today I am no longer headachy or crabby, having had a pretty decent night's sleep, though I'm skipping church because I am still rather peopled out. And to keep myself headache and snarl-free, I will set fewer tasks for myself (I accomplished a full load despite the intensive parenting yesterday!), though one of the tasks is to write a kid's tale about how starches become sugars and mess up the digestion of sensitive stomachs. Page responded really well to the (badly written) kid's tale of the good bug and bad bugs of digestion.

But first, homework. I've been coasting a bit myself, and I need to get back on the ball. So I shall go do that.