Andrew entry #2

Andrew just came into my bedroom & said his tummy hurt.  As he said that, he broke down in tears.  I asked the usual mommy questions...do you need to go potty?  Do you need to throw up?  What it boils down to is that this is a VERY FREQUENT excuse to get out of bed.  At least 3x/week he claims that something hurts or that he needs something so that he can stall going to sleep.  I'm not sure why he stalls falling asleep.....nightmares that he's afraid will come?  Bad nighttime memories from the past?  Just wants attention?  Who knows?

I told him that there wasn't much I could do for him if it wasn't a poopy/pukey sort of tummyache & that he really just needed to go to bed & get some rest---the best cure for all physical ailments.

He screamed & cried that he couldn't go to bed because laying down made his tummy hurt more.  He went on & on.  I told him that his stomach was probably hurting due to stress.  He cried "I am not stressed out!!!!!".  When I pointed out his behavior at school today & reminded him that yes, he is stressed out, he just cried louder.  I told him that he had every right to be stressed out.....reminded him that he's had a hard life, has had to live through some really hard things in the past year & that he needed to talk to someone about the way it makes him feel inside.  I explained to him about getting ulcers from stress & while that freaked him out, maybe it got through to him.  I hardly had explained that before he screamed "I don't like how you & Larry boss me around!!".

Ah!  Progress!  Finally....something!!!

I told him that God gave him to us to take care of & if we give him rules it's because we love him & want to make sure he's safe--both physically & emotionally & spiritually.  I reminded him that his parents had rules for him too, so what is different?  He told me 'They let me watch whatever movies I wanted to watch!  Y'all won't let me watch Harry Potter or those kind of movies!"  {NOTE:  We have a house rule that you have to be 12 before you watch/read HP.}  I reminded him that he only had a couple more years til he reaches the age when he can watch HP, but then explained again why we don't watch HP.  As for the rest of the movies he was allowed to watch......well......sorry kiddo, we don't do R & NC-17 rated movies for 6 & 8 year olds!

He had worked himself into a full blown panic attack by now & was all sorts of worked up, screaming, slinging snot & boogers, the whole nine yards.  We, well...I, talked about how different homes have different rules.  I explained how it would be that way as an adult, too.  When you go from one job to another, rules change & you have to go along with whatever the new boss says, even if you don't like the rules.  That's just how the world works.  He didn't like that answer, either.

I told him that it was nearly 10:00 (2 hours past his bedtime) and he needed to calm down & go get in bed.  He screamed & cried & carried on about how he couldn't calm down.  Of course, having watched Savannah's anxiety attacks, I realized this was true-- you really can't calm yourself during an anxiety attack.  He took off running out of my room & went to the hall bathroom.  I thought he was going to throw up, so I followed him, but he just used the bathroom & came out, still wiping his nose & sobbing.  He grabbed onto my waist & hugged me tight.  He was nearly hyperventilating at this point, so I stepped inside the bathroom with him, got down on eye level & tried to calm him down again....speaking softly, holding his face/shoulders.  I got out a damp washcloth & tried to wipe off his face, all the while with him twisting and turning & trying to pull away from me, but at the same time, holding on around my waist for dear life.  It was like trying to wipe the nose of a toddler--he'd bury his face in my chest/stomach & turn his head from side to side.  I finally told him that I wouldn't turn loose of him until he was able to calm down a little & breathe more regularly.  He stood there sobbing, watching his own reflection in the mirror, and finally settled down.

When I sent him toward bed again, he said "I can't go without you."  He wanted me to come lay in his bed with him, but I told him I'd sit at the foot of the bed with him for a little while.  I got him covered up, put a towel beside the bed for him (he's been sleep peeing lately....) and sat down to rub his leg.  Within 2 minutes' time, he was snoring.

Poor kid.  I don't know what Satan is trying to do today, but man he's busy.  But ya know what?  God won another battle tonight.  :::stomping my foot:::  Na-na-na-na-boo-boo!  :::blowing raspberries:::