My kids are worth it.

Anxiety is scary. Perhaps that goes without saying.

It's a lot of work to just get up and fake genkiness when the very first waking thought I have is about how much pain my 'girl problems' have me in and how much harder things will be without medical insurance.

It's amazing how I've spent my entire post-puberty life with 'bleeding problems' only to finally get long term help  April 2011 and instead find myself with no bleeding problems, but constant pain instead.

My kids are worth it.

Yesterday, the biggest task we accomplished was writing a list for 'How to do Dishes'.

David didn't get stitches to get out of doing dishes, but Anthony sure believes he did. ADHD-proofing protocol #7 says to break tasks down. I'm sincerely hoping that Anthony will be able to master dishes with his 30-some step procedure sheet.

Why was David in charge of dishes? "Kiwi"
Why isn't Gregory in charge of dishes? Cuz he's not ready and we need to be able to eat off them.

Although later last night, with rice crispy treats as a motivator, the boys proved that making them work together to finish a Quick Check with a perfect score might not be so far away from possible.

Anthony has been sleeping on the enclosed front porch. Last night I slept through the late night checks and today I woke Anthony and found the outside front door completely unlocked. Especially with insurance ending, I need to teach rather than do. This morning I've already created a Late Night Check List that will be posted in the Q4N blog.

It's a lot of work to not be dramatic about how much that scares me. [Elizabeth Smart?!]

This morning Anthony was melting down about not wanting breakfast. I asked him, "Anthony, what can I do to make you happy?" We were able to find something that he would want to eat and he seems to be happy. He's even moved on to nagging me about going to the library and how he's going to wait til his brothers are done eating to do dishes. [WOW!] I need to practice what I preach and listen more often.

The problem is that when you give your kids what they want all the time, you end up with spoiled brats. I've tried to explain to my boys that I WANT to spoil them, but I am limited to spoiling them only to the point just before 'bratiness' starts. The better they behave, the more I can give them what they want. Of course they are 11, so it's really hard to not be bratty.