In Which It Is Fall Break, But ADHD Doesn't Take the Day Off

It's Fall break for my kids today and tomorrow. According to the weather forecast, we might actually get some weather tomorrow that hints of fall. Today it was 95 degrees. Anyway, this post will be short and sweet because the kids and I went on a fun day trip and it's late. There may or may not be a post tomorrow. We'll see. Even though I only, have, like, 4 regular readers right now, two of whom are my mom and my mother in law, I will feel oddly guilty if I don't keep up my regular habit of posting every weekday :).

As I mentioned in a previous post, Squirrelboy does not normally take his ADHD medication when it's not a school day. The main thing it helps him with is concentration, which he needs most for schoolwork, so it's usually okay. However, another symptom of ADHD is difficulty with emotional regulation, and that symptom was in high gear today for Squirrelboy. Fun things like that tend to crop up more when he's tired. He just finished two major projects for school and retook a big test on Wednesday, and he's been running on fumes trying to get those things finished after spending the past two weekends at Boy Scout events. Then he stayed up late Wednesday finishing up an assignment for Civics for which he'd been given an extra day (a perk of his 504 plan). Last night I though all three of us had agreed that we were going to spend the day at the Kentucky Science Center in Louisville. Quite suddenly today the very idea of driving anywhere was anathema to Squirrelboy. It didn't help that I told him he had to take a shower. He didn't want to go anywhere out of town, but he didn't want me and Kittygirl to go anywhere without him either. He spent about 45 minutes arguing with me before his shower. I tried to figure out a compromise but he wasn't having it. The fact is, I didn't regulate my emotions all that well either. While I don't have a diagnosis, the more I learned about ADHD while we were pursuing a diagnosis for Squirrelboy, the more I realized I have a lot of the symptoms as well. Difficulty with emotional regulation, especially when I'm tired, is absolutely one of them. I'm a little better, probably because I've had 30 more years of practice, but Squirrelboy can set me off. Finally I gave up and gave Mr. Engineer a call at work. Thankfully, I caught him just before he was leaving for a meeting. He was able to talk to Squirrelboy rationally and convince him that he really might have fun on a day trip with his mom and sister today.

Ultimately, the compromise was that we took a trip, not the science center, but to Entertrainment Junction, an entertainment center near Cincinnati which has both train and carnival themed areas. Squirrelboy had an enjoyable afternoon taking pictures and videos of the amazing train setups. Kittygirl had fun with everything. Funnily enough, this place is about 30 miles further than the science museum that was way too far :). By the time we headed out, Squirrelboy and I had both managed to regulate our emotions, and the rest of the day went well. Well, except for my hissy fit over Kittygirl's ridiculous blood sugar spike that I couldn't control, but I'll save that one for Diabetes Awareness Month in November.