The Lot Of ‘Em

Finally everyone has gone to bed, and for once I am still conscious enough to blog.

Infidel’s behavior in school continues to be a source of wonderment. I spent Friday morning at his school with four teachers and then the school psychologist, who has requested and obtained my approval to observe him for a week or so to figure out what in tarnation is going on with the boy. Working hypothesis? Brace yourselves for news bulletin from Muppet Labs: autistic spectrum traits tend to run in families. So, apparently, does the desire to torment one’s adult captors in middle school.

Oh, and speaking of that whole autistic spectrum thing, I happened to google “clingy preteen daughter” the other day – no particular reason except maybe the umpteenth text message from Mouse one morning – and Asperger’s Syndrome came up as one of the top results. So I’ve been reading more about Asperger’s and young adults and realizing that my crazed insecurity as a young woman may have had more neurological basis than I heretofore expected. I am also realizing that holy crap, all three of them? Really? I mean, they’re healthy (knock on wood) and awesome (ptu ptu ptu) and we’re blessed to have them but I have eight years and four months of high school left to go. I think I just aged some more thinking about that.

Muppet Labs is also reporting that making summer plans for the kids before the actual arrival of summer helps with placement and financial planning. I have already managed to nail down half of Mouse’s summer and am now zeroing in what to do with boys. Note to self: check 4-H camps. If only I could indenture them or apprentice them somewhere! I’ll bet school would seem a whole lot more inviting to Infidel after summering on a factory floor. Podrostok actually is entertaining hopes of finding a job, which is fine with me except for the potential for transportation trouble. We will need to build some quality time into the schedule for driving lessons so he can prepare for getting a driver’s license some time next fall.

In other news, we found a rental townhouse that we’ll move into in May, and I’m going to be taking a class (partly out in Fauquier County, partly online) on farm management and planning. But my “conscious” just wore out.