Mr. Reilly

I just finished up Reilly's parent/teacher conference or care planning meeting.  It was a good one, as they all usually are.  I come away both hopeful and totally depressed.

In a nutshell, Reilly is doing well.  He's coming along in all areas.  Slow and steady.  His main stumbling block at the moment is his attitude.  He is incredibly stubborn and independent.  He does not like or appreciate help from anyone with anything.  I imagine many five year-olds are this way.  They get a taste of what they can do and they're off to the races.  I even encourage Reilly to do things on his own.  I think it's good for children to struggle now and then to accomplish a task...builds character.

Here comes the but...

MY five year-old doesn't communicate effectively.  His receptive and expressive language skills are far below that of a five year-old.  He did just learn "yes" and "no", but struggles at using them at appropriate times or without screaming.  You can't reason with Reilly.  Trying to explain to him why he needs to wear a coat when it is 5 degrees outside or why we need to hold hands in a parking lot is nearly impossible.  I can't say he doesn't understand what I'm saying, but he gives no indicators that he does.  The more I try to get him to do something, the harder he digs his feet in won't do it.

At this point, I should say my mother finds great humor in all this.  Something about turnaround being fair play....whatever.

When he was smaller it was easier to deal with.  The older and bigger he gets the more complicated things become.  He is stronger and faster, both problems for his Mom.  I really wish he could somehow understand there are dangers in the world.  You can't jump off things and always land on your feet.  You can't run into the street and never expect a car to be there.  You can 't run barefoot in snow without some pain.  And on and on and on...

This past Sunday, Dean took Braedon to a mission farewell and I took Reilly to our ward.  My mom came with us.  I tried and tried to get Reilly to take his medicine.  Both my boys take ADHD medicine that makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE IN THE WORLD!!!!  After 30 minutes I decided to cut my losses and just head off to Church.  Like always, I wasn't allowed to put his tie on.  He likes to wear his tie on the second button of his dress shirt.  I have no problem with this.

We got to Church a few minutes early and took our normal seat.  Reilly sat between my mom and I with his Mickey Mouse.  He wiggled around, talked to whomever he was talking to, and had this grin on his face while we said hello to people as they walked in.  Once the meeting started, I was hopeful Reilly would chill and bit.  Ha Ha Ha

He decided to try and jump off the pew, see how high he could go, and make a loud "thud" sound when he hit the floor.  I put a stop to this quick.  Then it was Mickeys turn.  He went to throw Mickey up and my hand shot out and grabbed him midair.  No more of that.  When it was time to sing, he got so irritated I grabbed a hymnbook.  For some reason, known only to Reilly, I am not allowed to us a hymnbook. EVERYONE else can, but not me.  You'd be amazed how many hymns you really do know when you aren't allowed to use one.

I told him to fold his arms for the prayer and he yelled, "NO!"  Then, while the prayer was being given, he turned and yelled at Mickey, "Fold Arms Mickey!"  By the time we sang one more time and awaited the bread and water, I was exhausted.  Between trying to keep Reilly from launching off the pew, kicking the pew in front of us, quoting movie dialogue and yelling I was ready to head home.  He was excited to take the bread and when the water came, he took a cup and drank it.  My mom, for some unknown strange reason, took the little cup from him to put it back in the tray.  I about yelled at her, "WHY?"  He immediately let her know this was the wrong thing to do.  I motioned for the Elder to come back to us and Reilly took an empty cup and placed it in the discard area.  He then shouted, "TA DA!!!  I did it!" while clapping his hands.   Everyone around was also very happy for him.  While we waited for everyone else to get their water Reilly was being very loud.  I placed my hand over his mouth and when I removed it he yelled, "Help"  We did this a few more times.

Well, we decided after the water we were heading home.  You got to know when to hold em....know when to fold em.  As we stood up, my mom took Reilly's hand and headed down the aisle to the door.  Reilly threw his head back and in a very loud voice he sang, "I'M A MUFFET!!!"  (It's a song from The Muppets)

Once we were out the door he continued to sing that song as we walked out the building.  I love that boy, but I was so happy to get home and relax.