Black Friday

I was wondering what my first blog about Ian would be. He wasted no time in giving me a great topic. Last night, I took Ian and Liberty (his 4 year old sister) to get all the fixins for a christmas tree. Something small.

Like most things with little kids, I quickly became the one wrapping the tree with lights and hanging the bright red walmart christmas balls all over the 4 foot tree.

Mom had to go to work this a.m. early. She had communicated with me that she was leaving. I'm not sure if the turkey was still kicking in, but I do not remember any of the conversation this a.m.

Ian was probably awake, by himself, from 5:30 a.m. to 7:30 a.m. I woke up thinking, Danielle must have taken Ian with her. The house was so quiet. There was a calm peace with a steady nice falling rain to further make my rise from slumber even that much more perfect. Liberty (4 year old sister) scampered out of our bed, which she invaded over the night, and scampered into the living room. She asked me why the house was green.

I didn't think much of it. Not until I heard Ian's voice. I quickly realized he had been here the whole morning.

Ian can not be left alone for any period of time. This morning, he caused more damage than I thought would be possible in 2 hours.

Sure enough, he had (just as Liberty reported) found a couple of bottles of green paint. His art project seemed to start out painting little stockings which my wife had bought as a project for her preschool kids. It quickly evolved into a "I'm going to paint my house, my carpet, my sofa".

I walked into the formal living area where we...excuse me, I....had worked so hard to put up our Red, White and Blue themed Remeber our Military Chrimstas tree last night. Ian must not have liked the project much. He had pulled the tree down and attempted to remove all the lights. He also took down the 60 red balls and scattered them throughout the house.

He then proceeded into my office and absconded my cell phone (which as a real estate and insurance agent is my main source for eeking out a living). He trashed my home office. I'm still trying to find the keys to my car.

Point of post: Some of you would think, "well, he just needs a good spanking". I'm not sure that works with Ian. The only way to keep him out of trouble is to be at his side morning, noon and night. He has to be monitored at all times of the day. Even though he knows right and wrong, deep down, he can't keep from doing wrong. We are still desperatley trying to understand. We are trying many things to try and get him on the same page as to what most of us consider normalcy. There will be more posts on this in days to come.

Discipline: Well, the first thing I though was take the tree down and not have one. But like so many times, Ian's behavior has a dramatic effect on his siblings. It's not fair for the other children (Bailey, Kennedy and Liberty) to not get a Chrimstas tree because of Ian. Multiply this small incedent over a period of 7 years and they have been harshly penalized because of Ian's condition. (more to come regarding sibiling issues in other posts).