Tackle It Tuesday #10 - Abby

This week, we yet again have another commitment along with the usual work, school, daycare and soccer practice. So no housework will be getting done (and boy does my house need it), but instead I'll be tackling something that we've been dealing with for a while - Abby.

You see, tonight is the first appointment for us to go in and meet with the psychologist to see if we can find out what is going on with her. You can read more about it here and here if you want the background.

About a month ago, I saw the psychologist and sat with her for an hour to explain all of our concerns and the issues we've been having with Abby. Then the psychologist went and observed her at school for about an hour a couple of weeks ago. Tonight's appointment is for us to all go in as a family so the psychologist can see how Abby relates to and with the rest of us. I'm just hoping that Ron will be able to make it - with his work schedule, we never know.

So I'll have to run home at lunch and put some sandwiches together in a cooler so that everyone can eat in the van on the way to Abby's soccer practice since I get out of work at 5pm and practice is at 5:30pm. Then we'll go straight from her practice to the psychologist's office for a 7pm appointment. Then home and put the kids straight to bed because it will be past their bedtimes by that point. Oh yes, and we'll have to somehow find the time to do Abby's homework in there as well.

My biggest worry is that the psychologist won't see the behavior that we (and my friends, and our daycare provider, and her teacher) have been seeing and therefore won't think there's anything wrong. Because we know that there's something wrong - or at least something that makes it very difficult for Abby to stay focused and relate well to other people and kids.

I'll update later as to how the appointment goes!

So I'm exhausted... It was a very long day. The appointment started 15 minutes before we're usually getting pajamas on and starting the bedtime routine, so it was a late night as well. Ron didn't make it - he had a long, lousy day at work. He did manage to make it home soon after we got home though so was able to see the girls briefly before we put them to bed.

I'm not really sure how the appointment went - I wasn't sure what to expect and neither were the girls. We met with the psychologist in an office but there were a couple of baby dolls and a small table and chairs. She started off by asking both Abby and Hannah about school and what Abby liked the best (morning work time because she gets her work done so that she can have recess after lunch, not to mention lunch and recess). Abby and Hannah played with the baby dolls and while Becca was upset at first, she had fun climbing in and out of all the chairs in the room. Then the psychologist brought out a 'magic wand' and wanted to know what the girls would wish for. They each got several turns to wish (as did I) - Abby wished for her teddy bear back (he got lost a couple of months ago) and to find the third of her set of 3 stuffed kittens from her Kitty Surprise stuffed cat. Hannah wished for another baby kitten since Snuggly is growing up (I was surprised she didn't wish for a puppy actually...) and for her to love Mommy very, very much - not really a wish so much.

The girls had noticed a large pad of paper and markers and were asking if they could color a picture. The psychologist (Dr. J) asked them what activities we like to do as a family and to draw a picture of that. Hannah said playing games together and Abby said eating dinner together. But when we all sat down at the little table, they each started drawing their own picture, so I drew one of my own.

I think theirs looked better than mine. Yes, I have no artistic ability, so still draw stick figures. But hey, the girls never seem to mind.

Becca was tired and saw those markers come out and of course there were no Color Wonder ones there. One big drawback of letting her color with those is that when she does get her hands on 'real' markers, she has no idea of how to limit where she's coloring since it doesn't matter with the Color Wonder ones. Oops. She did actually do a good job of scribbling on the paper (it helped that it covered the entire little table) but did get marker on my shirt and her hands, arms and face. Thankfully the markers were washable!

The girls wanted to color on and on - Abby's turned into a series of simple addition problems (7+7=14, etc.) and Hannah tried to copy that and then they started drawing Halloween stuff. We had to finally tell them they had to be done because Becca was throwing a major tantrum over my having taken the markers away and it was time to go anyway.

Abby is going back - alone - next Thursday evening. I don't know yet what Dr. J's thoughts are - there was no opportunity to talk about that tonight with the girls all hyper when we were leaving. I think I'll give her a call tomorrow and see what she thinks is going on - or if she's seen enough to have any kind of an idea yet. Honestly, I think Hannah was almost as hyper (if not more) than Abby was tonight - she kept jumping in to answer questions that Dr. J was asking Abby, not her. I'm not a psychologist though (far from it!) so I don't know what she was looking for or at from the questions she asked.

I'm off to tackle my bed right now - good night, all!

What are you tackling this week? And check out other Tackle It Tuesday posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom!