Of course, it's not entirely restful when the kids are up to their usual battles. They've been manageable with only a handful of extreme spikes (which is actually decent), but it still boggles my mind how frustrating they can be. They know full-well that Craig and I have had it with their constant battles, yet no matter how matter-of-factly we call them out on it, they keep doing it. We've been constantly encouraging them to avoid confrontation and think twice before they react, but it hasn't really been helping. They're still in each other's space and looking for random ways to set the other off. It's like the worst bad habit ever.
As I mentioned, we went to a new therapist this week. We were recommended there by our old one, who essentially ran her course. We needed something that was more focused on our family unit (Carter included, even if Jacob is still the "official" patient), so we started with a new one, our first male therapist ever, on Thursday. It was mostly a get-to-know-you session. We all shared a bit about ourselves (him included) and then talked about our struggles briefly. He wanted to start by focusing on what we're currently doing well, which was hard. I think we came up with good one-on-one time (or really any time we have with the kids separately), suffering no major injuries despite the fights, starting well (like when the boys play a video game or basketball game together--before it goes downhill when Carter loses his temper or Jacob finds a way to make him mad), and traveling relatively well despite our challenges. Then we went through a full family timeline, starting from when Craig and I met to Jacob starting a new school last year. I think he was looking for any red flags, which was pretty much all of 2013 when Carter was born, Jacob started melting down, went to school, and got diagnosed with Celiac Disease, and then when we went to Disney. Clearly that was a pivotal period. The therapist was overly pleasant, almost cheesy, which elicited some eye rolls from Jacob, but I know it's all a part of the process to endear himself to the kids and start building trust. Due to very limited scheduling it'll be a few weeks before we meet with him again, but eventually it will be every other week. Let's hope it helps.
Carter had his well visit this week. The doctor isn't concerned about the night wetting just yet but gave us the suggestion of waking him up to pee when we go to bed. He also said he could prescribe medication if we wanted to go that route. I'd hate to do medication, but we'll see. Even though we don't make a big deal of it, Jacob isn't particularly understanding and I know it's going to start affecting Carter's confidence after a while, so we'll definitely need to weigh that. After getting Carter's height and weight stats, I dug into Jacob's medical folder (what a throwback that was!) and found his physical form from his seven-year well visit. I was curious how the boys compared in size. Turns out Jacob was about two inches taller and seven pounds heavier. Despite Carter starting to fit into clothes Jacob wore in second grade, it's about what I expected but still a bummer because I'd hoped that maybe he'd gained a little more ground. Clearly Carter got my height genes--poor kid. Even still, he's around the 50th percentile, so we'll take that (and just ignore that really low percentile for weight! The kid eats, but he's just skinny!). But otherwise, the doctor was happy with his progress.
This weekend marked Jacob's last games with his current town team. It's been a long, challenging season--mostly due to issues with uncommitted and disrespectful players--so it's a bit of a relief that it's over. He had a four-game tournament, and they lost all four. Their best player missed the last two weekends of the season due to bad grades, and they only won one game out of six. Jacob played great on Friday night, scoring six points in one game and 10 in another, and collecting a bunch of steals and blocks. Sunday was a different story. He got shut out in the first game (and they lost pretty badly to a team they beat earlier in the season), but he rebounded with four points in a tough, close loss in the second game. I won't miss having to schedule our weekends at the last minute, but we will miss watching some of the kids play. The coach wants him back next year, but it remains to be seen if he'll even play in this league with the option of modified sports at school. We'll also have to see how his upcoming travel season goes. One of his current teammates will be on that team, and he'll play with a couple other kids he played with last summer in the pickup league he played in. We have yet to get the full schedule but it will be interesting to see where we have to go. I'd say we get a break for a bit, but Carter is still playing for four more weeks and Jacob will probably be going to training twice this week before team practice starts next week. I guess we're just a full-time basketball family now!
As for me, I'm still not feeling 100%. Every time it seems like I'm getting better, I'm sneezing and sniffling all over again. This latest round (let's say the fourth spike in a little over a month) started last night. It's not as bad as a full-blown cold, but it's annoying. It worries me a bit that I can't seem to get better. Craig is pretty similar but mine seems to be impacting my energy more than his. He's kept up with his workouts, whereas I've only worked out a handful of times in the last few months. The one period I was healthy was during the holidays and I was just too busy for staying in shape. My nose is cracked where it always drips and I'm just tired of sniffling and blowing it. At least I can breathe most of the time, but still. I just need to feel better. I'm gaining weight and running season will be painful if I can't get myself back into some sort of maintenance mode soon. If it lasts much longer I'll probably be back at the doctor's office demanding blood work (or maybe requesting it electronically to avoid whatever else is going around), but for now I'll just wait for spring. At least it's not the flu...yet...knock on wood.
The kids are dreading going back to school (and work is busy as well), but everyone is eager for Craig to come back home tomorrow. Only a few more roadtrips left this season (though one is a two-game doozy and the other is pretty far). Two more months. And spring is just around the corner...on the calendar, anyway. More daylight is helpful this time of year, but it looks like we have another wacky weather week ahead in this oddly warm but snowy winter. But even with a leap year, March is in sight!
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