been a while
Hi, tumblr. Been a hot minute since I posted an update.
My twins just turned 8 last month. They're... A lot. Very smart, very strong-willed, defiant, take no shit ever, impulsive, and easily overwhelmed. N lashes out if she thinks a child or adult is treating someone unfairly (sometimes she's right about the unfairness, other times she isn't, because she's 8); laudable impulse, but challenging to deal with when e.g. she starts yelling in a teacher's face that she needs to have more patience with a misbehaving student. (Her delivery needs work, too.) M meanwhile gets physically aggressive when she feels cornered or is frustrated at being unable to achieve her desired object. M also has chronic fatigue subsequent to a bout of Lyme disease almost 2 years ago, which both SUCKS in its own right and also makes the behavior stuff more challenging because emotional regulation and executive function drop even more when she's tired, natch.
School has absolutely no idea what to do with them and I can't entirely blame them. They run rings around their classmates academically but also have meltdowns that would raise eyebrows in kids half their age. They are alternatively each other's best friend and mortal enemy and it changes on a dime, sometimes multiple times per day, and parenting/teaching them is equally challenging in both modes. They're in separate classes at school except N will roam the halls when she feels like it or pop into her sister's classroom to chat when she feels so inspired. You'd think a 2nd grader would stay in her classroom when told, but N has figured out that it's very hard for anyone to actually _make_ her do anything she doesn't want to. So school mostly lets her do what she wants so long as she's not unsafe or disrupting other children (besides her sister), and so long as she's completing enough work to be making As in all her classes.
They're lucky they're cute little white girls but they're still running out of time to get their shit together.
Baby Pastiche is still with us, he's going to be turning 1 soon. His parents are still very invested and really want him back, but they also still don't have their shit together. And the court system is still incompetent. His 4 older siblings all have permanent homes elsewhere. I have no idea where his case is going to go but I don't imagine it will be closed any time soon. People have started to ask us if we would want to adopt him if it comes to that and my answer is always that that has never been our goal. Everything is on the table right now and I just have to hope that whatever the courts decide will match what is best for Pastiche, and that what is best for Pastiche is compatible with the rest of our household's needs.
For now he's just a very cute, extremely chill, healthy, happy little baby with no idea about any of this. The twins adore him and it's truly delightful to watch their bond with him. At least there's no shortage of people who love him in this world.
We got a new puppy in January and she's snuggly and soft and fantastically uncomplicated.
