The kid we fight for (and other news)

Genea is on the upswing. Every few months she goes through a period of stellar behavior. She is as close to a regular kid as I think is possible for her. She is playing with a full deck. The lights are on, someone is home. The 6 pack has 6 cans. The switch is flipped.

She relaxes. She can wait her turn. She is funny! She laughs at jokes with a regular, normal sounding laugh. She catches on. She can put 2 and 2 together and get 4 instead of "banana". Her eyes are clear and there are no bags. She cares. She asks the person who tripped or fell or whatever, "are you all-right"? She doesn't have to ask over and over what is for dinner because she is confident it is coming, whatever it is. She can wait. She can hear the word no, and keep going. She stays on the topic of the conversation she is having. She ate a small portion of food at dinner and did not compulsively ask for more.

She is a 6 year old. She went to her friends house with explicit directions to play only outside. I could not see her and found her inside their house. She sits where I sit every time I get up. She asks questions she knows the answers to for our attention. She interrupts. She tattles on her sister. She jabs her new Barbie dolls hair an inch from my face so I can "see" it. Normal. All normal 6 year old stuff.

She is still toe walking. She falls and knocks stuff over and runs into things that are not there. She has to be able to see me or she will jump up, indeed she will levitate, to find me. She will follow me so close I literally trip over her, often. She paces back and forth, unable to focus on one thing to do. She is clingy.

This is it. This is the real kid that is in there, under all The Crazy. This is who Genea can be, what we fight for. The constant pace of manic- panic and fear is what we usually have. Even when we are having a good stretch, we always have that stress, the nervousness, the strain of mania and impulsivity, just to a lesser degree. But every once in a while, for a week or 2 if we are lucky, the real kid comes out. A regular kid who has been through a whole lot.

So what does that all mean? Does a kid with Reactive Attachment Disorder have periods of typical behavior? Does a kid with Early Onset Bipolar Disorder show periods of lucidity? Could ADHD cause all of this and her problems are related to hyperactivity and impulse control and does that go away once in a while? She is not free and clear. This break is a significant lessening of symptoms but many still remain. They are manageable. They are what you would expect from a child who has been through her situation. I don't know if an accurate diagnosis would make all the difference or if it matters and maybe there is no one thing that would explain everything. Would it change what we do and how we approach Genea? WHAT THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO DO AND HOW DO I MAKE THIS STICK?

In other news, The Husband is really sick. Now, Teena is really sick. And The Husbands parents are coming for a visit on Saturday, until Tuesday. Genea was mildly sick over the weekend but seems to be better. I am the only one left standing and I have suspicions that will not last much longer. Coincidentally, every time The Inlaws come out here (they live out of state), The Husband is either: A. Really Sick or B. Really Busy. This results in me having to do all the damn work for their visit while he slops around making a wreck of everything complaining that he is: A. Really Sick or B. Really Busy. Girls, beware that if you marry a man for his mind, there is a good chance he will spend decades using it to get out of household responsibilities!