Things are getting better–mostly. I know this because we’ve had reasonably pleasant family dinners every day this week. I know this because all the children in the house have been in bed and asleep by midnight every night–without too much of a fight from any of them. I know this because I’ve been able to spend a bit of time with each kid this week that wasn’t direct crisis management.
On the other hand, J. has punched me a couple more times (not as hard as before, and not in the head, but we’re still taking it seriously), and I’ve said I will not teach him any more school. Trouble is, the local school doesn’t really want him there either, so we’re in a kind of limbo, trying to figure out what to do next. There’s supposed to be a meeting soon with some district people to figure out what’s best for J. Maybe next week we’ll have more news.
B. and K. are both finding our household situation stressful, but they’re hanging in there. We’re finding outside adults they can talk to. They’re doing well in school (last week’s conferences showed that). B’s teachers surprised us by telling us about how kind and empathetic he was. We always get the “brilliant student” comments, but this was new, and very nice.