Double, Double Toil and Trouble

I got a call from Jenniebee just a bit ago who informed me that Peanut's school had called even at my behest to call my cell phone during the day because I'm a single mom and most often we aren't home during the day.

The Vice Principal informed me of Peanut's behavior during art class this morning and it wasn't good. It appears that while sitting down to do the work, Peanut got upset that the kid next to him wasn't following the directions and when this other kid wouldn't listen, Peanut threw a pencil across the room and hit another kid in the head with it.

We've been having this issue for quite some time now at home: this morning it was flinging his shirt that I wouldn't let him wear (he is wearing blue camies and the shirt was beige Hawaiian print - Idon'tthinkso) on the door frame like he was trying to hurt the wall.

While I feign ignorance to the cause of said outbursts, the kid is only doing exactly what I did at his age. This anger thing is deep in there and I don't know where it comes from in order to stifle it. I do realize that there is a direct corelation between my stress and his reactions so I've been trying to play it super calm while secretly wanting to just put him somewhere 'til finals are over and the last paper is turned in.

A month ago, his school evaluation team suggested that he see a psychologist post-haste, which makes sense and I've started the ball rolling on that but haven't heard from them in a while. So I will be calling them in just a bit to check on the status of our application. Peanut has medicaid so I can't go just anywhere and the Children's Hospital is supposedly staffed with some excellent folks. (I say supposedly because I haven't actually met any of them yet.)

My ex-husband, when I try talking to him about this and how he needs to be more on top of Peanut during his weekends with him, just blames it all on me and the people in my household. It is tense in my house but I can't be the only one to blame, either. My niece, just this morning, was correcting Peanut on how to write a certain letter and how to say a certain word. She just turned 6 in March and is on his ass almost constantly which might also be where Peanut got the message to be angry when someone is doing something wrong. Who knows. But I sure wish those pyschologist folks would hurry it up already.

It is very aggravating especially when he has meltdowns: he'll just scream and scream and scream and doesn't seem to have the ability to calm himself after that point. I try hugging him really tight and just holding on to him which works occasionally, but he's getting bigger and stronger now and not so easy to contain. The interesting thing is, none of this happens when it's just been me and him all day long. It's when outside influences are brought in that his personality seems to change and perhaps he is getting too much stimulation. He's mostly a solitary creature and likes playing with other kids when he's ready to play with them (which pisses my niece off).

But, it's one gigantic puzzle to figure out and hopefully we'll figure it out soon so we can get a better foundation set for the rest of his school career.