Meltdown

Hannah had a short meltdown today, but I am seeing such huge improvement since her meds have been increased. This was her first one in a LONG time. She got angry over something I said and Steven reiterated. It would have been fine if Steven hadn't stuck his two cents in, when he shouldn't have. Anyway, she started to cry and ran upstairs. Then there was a huge crash.

Drew has his dresser at the top of the stairs and he has a box on top of it, where he keeps a bunch of his crap, including a ton of cologne bottles (cologne seems to be one of his obsessions). She had picked the box up and thrown it down the stairs. There was stuff all over the hall up there and on almost all of the stairs and even a few on the foyer. Somehow, only two large cologne bottles broke, but it was a huge, smelly mess. He also had a bunch of hockey cards and paperwork in the box, plus a ton of miscellaneous stuff, like un-blown balloons and shaving supplies.

It was fun to clean up. Alex helped a ton, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been. Hannah came out of her room and offered to help, but I said no because the glass was really sharp and I had already had to pull a piece out of my finger with a tweezers and I was being super careful.

Here is where I see the improvement. Number one, Hannah never apologizes when she has a tantrum. Oh, she will say sorry when I tell her to, but it is said in a snotty way and you can tell she isn't really sorry. Also, she offered to help with the clean-up, sincerely and nicely. That was only about 5 minutes after she threw the box and she was already calm. That is a big improvement. When she came downstairs later (after falling asleep in her room for about an hour), she apologized and told me that she really did feel bad about doing that and that she regretted it right after she did it. Another huge step for her. Normally, she would blame it on someone else and refuse any responsibility.

Hannah also hasn't been having any after school tantrums, now that she is taking her second does of abilify in school. It is working by the time she gets home and life is so much easier.

Speaking of Hannah, she went to a dance at her school last night. Alex had a play performance so he wasn't there to keep an eye on her. I wasn't worried, though, with her new attitude, I figured she would be fine. She always dances in a big group, but she came home all excited last night because a boy asked her to dance a slow dance. She doesn't "like" him (although she used to have a huge crush on his twin brother in fourth grade) and he doesn't "like" her, they just danced as friends. (Apparently that is very important for us to know!!!)