Finding Joy Amidst Frustration

At our house there are lots of birthdays.  We're are coming into the season where from Aug. 10 to Oct. 4 we have 7 birthdays.  That's a lot of celebrating.  I turned 54 yesterday and Chad turns 35 tomorrow - we adopted him at 8 yrs. old and thought we'd be successful if we could keep him home till he was 16 yrs. old - well he's still here.  He was such a wild cat when he came we just thought we'd never make it.  What you are able to handle as a parent grows as your experience grows.  At least it has for us.

The other day we had several days of Callie really acting out. Jumping all over the furniture, squirting hair lotion, shampoo etc. on the carpet etc. We thought it was because her beloved Julie was gone for a few days and she missed her or that summer school was over, so her routine really was messed up until...... she came into the kitchen looking like a vampire with a tooth in her hand and her mouth dripping with blood.  She obviously had had some tooth pain for several days, but was unable to communicate that to us or even decipher what the pain meant to herself.

On Sun. Ella had a friend over and the two of them went into the girl's room locking the door and Callie and the boys out.  Mark discovered Callie - again - spilling lotion all over the carpet right outside the locked door.  Again, she was obviously mad, but unable to verbalize and therefore acted out.  So, now we'll have to see if we can get ahead of those behaviors by helping her identify and express her feelings.  

I realize what an awful superpower reading minds would be, but sometimes I think it'd really be helpful when trying to figure Callie out.  How frustrating it must be to have these emotions bubbling inside you can't express and probably can't even identify. How very much Callie has to teach me about patience and finding joy amid a world that must just baffle her at every corner.