Bonding and claiming activities

Radishes really can’t hug, but then neither can RADishes. Reactive Attachment Disorder is a disorder of relationships, so it isn’t surprising that children with RAD aren’t warm and fuzzy huggers.  I never really noticed this with my daughters.  I am a hugger, so I was always hugging them.  I didn’t realize they weren’t hugging back.  Especially Elle. There are all kinds of hugs, hugs between married couples, hugs between best girlfriends, hugs between work colleagues, and the air kiss hugs between the Real Housewives of New York. When we first started RAD therapy, we learned that Elle really wasn’t hugging us.  It was sort of hugging, but it never reached the level of a loving exchange, and we always initiated it. Elle would lead with her… [more]

Dora’s good mood continued after school today, significantly bolstered by her being one of ten kids (out of 24) who will advance to the next level of the spelling bee. She joined us on a walk, enjoying a few inches of snow, and right now, she and Beth are making all kinds of noise as they set the table and make drinks for dinner. Remember that I mentioned Kaleidoscope in a previous blog? Kaleidoscope is a cool kid’s “playground” created and maintained by Hallmark cards. There are several workstations where kids can create paper crafts with all kinds of mediums. I was a helper in the planetarium setting where they had melted crayons that dried almost instantly when painted onto paper. Oh, and there were… [more]

Dora completed her required bags of manure last night and came inside much calmer and more relaxed. She cleaned up and joined me in the “lower level” while I worked at arranging new furniture and completing the transformation from "unfinished basement" to family room. One of the boxes I retrieved from the unfinished side of the basement contained the Cabbage Patch dolls that once occupied a space in our rec room, but were stashed in a box for several years due to frequent moves. These dolls represent my kids: Kyle and Steph, Tommy and Amy, Beth, and Big Amanda, our former foster daughter (“Big” as opposed to another foster daughter who was here for awhile, “Little Amanda”.) I wonder if I should go find one… [more]

As I am frequently in the elementary school these days, I see various class projects and art masterpieces displayed on the walls and bulletin boards. One of those class projects was a “newspaper” prominently displaying a photo of the person whose “Exclusive Story (was) Told Here for the Very First Time!” I looked for Beth’s on the wall yesterday but I couldn’t find it. So imagine my surprise when I sat down for breakfast this morning after she had caught the bus and found some of her papers left for me to see. One of them was her newspaper. In the lower left-hand corner, there was an “article” entitled Meet My Hero. The instructions read: Write a mini-article about a person who inspires you… [more]

I’m in yet another hotel room as I write this. Yesterday was spent having an upper GI endoscopic exam, followed by a really fun party with my vet school classmates. The upper GI exam confirmed that I will need to return for endoscopic surgery sometime after the first of next year. After taking a nap to sleep off the happy drugs from my GI exam, we headed to the home of one of my classmates for another party. Beth and Dora were the only two kids there. Many of my classmates commented on how polite and well-behaved they were. The girls spent some of the time running around with the Border collies that also accompanied us on this trip. As I mentioned in… [more]