The reunion in Georgia was actually pretty sweet. I was bracing for strange behaviors, hiding, avoiding, etc, but instead we were greeted with big hugs, real, genuine ones, even from Joe. A few days later he was dropping to the ground when I tried to hug him, but the first couple of days we were together he was so hungry for our love and affection, and I think truly missed us enough, that he let us love on him.
It was a good reminder that deep down inside this really is what he wants.
Over the last week we have seen many of his old behaviors start to reappear, especially the minor ones, like excessive talking, nonsense questions, arguing, resisting physical affection and eye contact, disrespect, manipulation, and stupid lying (lying about something obvious). But we are dealing with all of this differently than we did before (at least trying our best!) and adding in some new tricks from our studies, and it seems to be making a difference.
Perhaps we are simply just in the honeymoon phase and the crap is about to hit the fan any day, but it really does seem like he is responding to what we are doing and getting better.
We had always known him to be obsessive and impulsive, but we had never seen it quite like this. The only thing he wanted to do was go to shops and spend the birthday money burning a hole in his pocket. We had other things planned that we thought he would enjoy, but we finally gave in, desperate to make this kid happy on his birthday. Still, he wouldn't decide what he wanted to buy, and he just wanted to keep shopping. All day, he was never, ever satisfied. He argued, he whined and complained.He cried so. many. times.
We were shocked and appalled at his behavior. We got angry with him, we scolded him, we tried to reason with him. Looking back, I feel terrible. Now that we understand what was happening and how his brain works, the whole thing makes a lot more sense.
First of all, it was his first birthday with us, and birthdays are a trigger for lots of kids like Joe. The boys came to us in August of 2012, just after Joseph's 9th birthday, which he spent in a shelter. His CASA volunteer (amazing woman that she is) and her niece came to visit and brought him his only present that year. Not a word or a gift from bio mom who was still in the picture, not to mention the foster parents who had promised to adopt him and his brothers and changed their minds.
Of course, we knew all of this when his first birthday with us came around, but it seemed like a kid who had gone through all of that would be so happy to have a family now, to be celebrated by his family, lavished with gifts, and taken out to do fun things! We thought he was going to be thrilled! We expected him to be giddy with excitement and full of smiles to finally have the kind of birthday he deserved to have all along!
But Joseph was too full of bad memories and fears of being disappointed and hurt again, so much so, that he couldn't open himself up to just enjoy the day and the love that was being lavished on him. He didn't trust us. Everything was a surprise or a new place he had never been, and he didn't know what to expect, so he felt the need to regain control. He was functioning in survival mode.
And thus he continued, throughout his tenth year of life, grasping for control and pushing us away, a little more each day, until we all found ourselves in a very tired, angry, hopeless place.
(Big sigh…)
BUT, this year…after a week and a half back together, tons of effort to reestablish trust and respect with careful love and nurture and a much better understanding of his needs and how to respond to his behaviors, Joseph truly had a happy birthday.
Don't get me wrong, it was not a perfect day, not even a great one, but compared to the year before, it was amazing. The birthday trigger was still there and emotions were on edge, but this year he knew much more of what to expect. We continued our birthday tradition of a special birthday breakfast. He was excited and smiling when he opened his door to balloons and came downstairs to see presents on the table. He loved helping his dad make pancakes. He was super thrilled about his gifts, especially the remote-controlled fork lift he requested.
Unfortunately, he couldn't find his tiny screwdriver set, or any appropriate tools for that matter (as he has managed to lose or break most of the tools in the Chapman household), so we couldn't put in the batteries (believe me, we tried!). There were some tears, but we got through it, shifting his attention to the upcoming trip to Petco to pick out a new aquarium for his tadpole.We had told him about this a few days before, so he was already expecting and looking forward to it (Parent win! We are learning!). There was a little redirection needed at the pet store, but he took it well and kept a pretty good attitude. We got the aquarium and picked up a new screwdriver set on the way home.
To make a long story not quite as long, the fork lift ended up not working. As you can imagine, there were more tears. (Total parent fail! I will never again give a battery-operated item for a gift without putting it together first and making sure it works!) But again, we got through it. We got the aquarium going and he loved it. He played video games all afternoon. I let him decide what we would do for dinner and he asked if we could get Taco Bell and go to the lake. This is what we did for dinner on my birthday back in October. I love the lake. When he made this request, it felt like he was my kid.
He had a blast trying to fish for turtles, and then we went home and had a movie night complete with snacks he chose from Walgreens and his choice from what was On Demand. It wasn't anything extravagant. It wasn't perfect. There were true disappointments. But he smiled a lot, even at me. I felt like we succeeded in making him happy and that is a really big deal. We were in control, enough for him to feel safe, but also gave him enough control that he didn't feel the need to fight for it. We were attentive to his emotions and able to comfort and redirect rather than scold. And instead of feeling afraid, I think he truly felt loved.
Maybe 11 is going to be a good year for us.
They say things get much less hopeful for kids with RAD at 12, so it needs to be.
I believe the prayers of many, many friends, family members, and hopeful supporters have had much to do with the success of these first couple of weeks, and we are so very thankful.
Please keep praying.
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