The experiment begins

Because the psychiatrist, who'd meant for us to be using the generic medication all along, was nice enough to call the pharmacy and say so. The medication may not work, but at least we won't go broke finding out.

He's only been on it for a couple of days. He's a bit extra tired, but that was supposed to happen. As for any improvements ... hard to say. He's still not listening at school, and not completing his work. He had a full-on meltdown the other day, in the middle of a birthday party, in front of the other moms, because I wouldn't buy him a toy. I played it off as, "Yeah, he's tired," as I tried to peel him off the floor, just because it's easier than saying, "Yeah, he does this a lot, he has utterly no emotional coping skills, the slightest bother or disappointment makes him collapse and he's not really a brat, even though he's coming off like one right now. So anyway, what were you saying about the weather?"

Amazingly other people never seem too bothered by the meltdowns. I don't see how that lasts, though. He just looks too old to be having them.

I think we have to give the medication a few weeks to see if it makes a difference. And if not, I suppose we see what's behind Door #3, and whether it comes in a generic version.

He did score really well on some sort of reading assessment test the other day. So, there's that.

Also, he had fun over the weekend at our joint pre-birthday hibachi celebration with friends (great idea, M.), and apparently also at the St. Patrick's Day parties at school. I don't quite get the St. Patrick's Day parties. Mainly because 1. we're not Irish, 2. the holiday as celebrated in America has very little to do with the actual holiday and 3. still not Irish. Although I do like soda bread.

But he came home talking about the leprechaun that snuck into the classrooms and did mischief, or something like that, and I sincerely hope we're not expected to keep up that whole business at home, because keeping track of Santa's sled and remembering the cookies and milk and the carrots for the reindeer is about all I can handle. Jewish holidays never involve invisible magical creatures, unless you count the prophet Elijah at Passover, and all you have to do for him is leave out a cup of wine. Which he never drinks, because, I'm guessing, he doesn't like Manischewitz wine either.

Our next event will be kiddo's official birthday party, for which he has so far wanted a Lego cake, a Minecraft cake and possibly a Paw Patrol cake, unless that was kiddette, who has been placing her pre-order way too far in advance. Such indecision. Just imagine if I were ambitious enough to make the cake myself. (Not a chance.)

Relative calm

Kiddo's psychiatrist says only two off days in the several weeks he's been on medication is actually pretty good, and if there's still improvement overall, then we're doing well. So we're looking at the bright side, I guess.

It does strike me that kiddo appears to be on the young end of the patient scale at this practice. Nearly everyone else is a bored/annoyed/vaguely punked-out teenager waiting with their parents, or an adult waiting alone. Once there were two kids a little older than kiddo -- no way to tell which was the patient, or whether they both were -- and of course kiddo and kiddette ran right over to them and chattered at them, and watched them playing their little video games. (Because no one ever accused my kids of being unfriendly, or shy.) But that hasn't happened since.

Kiddo doesn't seem to mind, though. At the latest appointment, he sat and listened to the white noise machine in the lobby, which was playing soothing rushing-water sounds (better that than "My Cherie Amour"?), and asked questions about it and made me cover him with my coat like it was a blanket. The young female staffers taking his blood pressure cooed over him, his psychiatrist told him to keep up the good work and out the door we went.

Also, we've started karate. My research indicates that individualized sports like martial arts or swimming (hello, Michael Phelps) are better for ADHD kids than team sports like baseball or football -- they're less likely to get overstimulated or, say, lose focus in the outfield and forget why they're there. DH is not thrilled to wait another year on baseball, but we did agree he could teach kiddo the basics this year so he's prepared for next year.

The karate uniform has posed some issues, in that it's a little too big for him. Kiddo doesn't always like loose clothing, and he really really didn't want to wear the jacket. (I have no idea what the proper name for it is, so we're going with jacket.) His teacher had to call another boy over, one kiddo is buds with, to show that he also is a little small for the uniform, and his sleeves are rolled up. Then it was OK. Going barefoot was still not OK, because the floor is cold. So getting him changed for class has been ... trying. But once class starts, he's punching and kicking with the rest of them, with a big grin on his face. Which is a bit of a relief. I very much like his teacher -- he's infinitely patient, but he makes sure the kids follow the rules. That's the kind of structure kiddo needs.

Truly, I suck at tying the belt though. I made his teacher show me again, and I'll probably still whiff it next week. Teacher says it takes about six months to figure out the belt. I'm sort of hoping he's kidding.

In the meantime, we prepare for our annual Easter/Passover eggstravaganza. I do occasionally wonder what the supermarket cashiers think when I have egg dye kits, matzah, bags of candy and a shank bone all in the same cart, but maybe they don't notice. I for once even attempted to make my mother's chicken soup recipe, which I assure you will taste nothing like hers, and also I punted on the matzo balls and bought frozen. But I did actually cook the chicken in the broth, skimming the fat off the top and all that, so I want partial credit.

We don't keep kosher, but I do stay away from bread products during Passover, which is a big sacrifice because I love bread products. So it'll be lots of salads this week. And matzah with Temp Tee cream cheese, which is the best way to eat matzah. I don't plan on restricting the kids too much, but I will give them matzah. Because people seem to like it when they don't have to eat it for an entire week every year.

We won't go through the Haggadah line by line at our seder, because then our seder would last until Memorial Day. But we'll get the gist of it across. After all, the Jews' escape from slavery is a good story, and should be respected as such.

... and then DH and I will start mapping out the Easter baskets and where to hide the eggs.

Anyway, happy whatever holiday to whoever's out there, and may we all have a good week.