Tales from the Trenches: A realization

My niece went through an evaluation for ADD the other day. The results are that she has ADD. She's functional, but they need to tweak a bit with her learning here and there.

This child is basically me. She looks like me. She acts like me. She is functioning in school like me.

I've tossed it around for a while, but I seriously think that I can say with certainty that I believe that I would be diagnosed with ADD, as well.

My mother and my co-workers agree. In fact, it's been suggested that I probably have the H portion, as well. I don't know about that. I can be manicky from time to time, but it isn't a constant thing.

My mind has and always runs in 12 directions. There is not just one thing on my mind. There have always been several different processes running all at once. Like a computer that you can layer screens of different applications running-- that is my brain.

There are days, like today, that I know that I'm a goofball. At the end of today, I apologized to my co-worker for my manicky behavior today.

I dropped things all day long.

I believe that my volume was overly loud, though she did bring that to my attention.

I accidentally ripped an earring out of her ear.

Folks, I'm not generally that much of a pile, but I was one hot mess.

When on our evening walk tonight, I was discussing my possible revelation with my husband. "Um, honey? Of course you are ADD. Did you consider it is perhaps ADHD? If I only had 1/4 of your energy, I'd be good."

There are days when I literally feel the swing kick in. I know it, I can tell it and there are days that I can't control it. I do the best that I can do, but I'm probably considered to be that spazed-out Mommy.

I know that I'm only 36, but the ADD thing wasn't as much of a thing when I was little as it is now. My mom said that my brother, Dumpy, tested borderline. She said that without a doubt, I would most definitely be.

It would have been a helpful thing to know about myself a long time ago. My mother, just as my sister, wouldn't have gone the medication route. A diet tweaking seems to be helping my niece. Since my day was so out of whack, I may consider doing a bit of a dietary tweak myself. We'll see how it changes things.

Smiles in my day:
- Rachael at Life with Hannah and Lily welcomed the arrival of her daughter, Ellie, today! 6 lbs 9 oz and 19 1/2" long. Gorgeous with a head full of hair! So happy for Rachael, Lily and Brien!
- K- had her Kindergarten Writing Assessment today. She said that the subject was "A Rainy Day." They didn't know the subject prior to the test, but we've written about rainy days, so she seemed to feel as if she nailed it. They also had to draw a picture to go with the writing. (4 sentence paragraph with introductory sentence, 2 supporting sentences and an ending sentence with appropriate capitalization, end punctuation, writing from left to right, top to bottom and though correct spelling wasn't mandatory, the correct beginning and ending consonants were required, as well as the correct number of syllables presented.) She was nervous this morning and had a belly ache. She didn't want to go to school, but I pressed on and she pulled through. She ate Cheerios on the way, but not many. "I'm listening to my body mommy, and it says no thank you." All the other parents that I talked with today reported the same belly ache problem with their children this morning. Seems as though our pool of 6 year olds were an absolute bundle of nerves. Poor kids!
- Mom's testing today seems to have gone well. There was some thickening found after some bleeding that she experienced, but apparently it is just her body being fine. The doctor still did a biopsy just in case, but he said that everything looks great and seems well. Because there were no cancer or pre-cancerous cells present, he kind of had to carve out a bit more than he originally suspected. She also found out that the fibroids that she has are about the size of a pea and he said that he believes that they will never cause her a problem. Still, she was on my mind a lot today. I prayed much for Mama Mia.
- K-'s reading level has been raised. It's always a little more difficult for the first few weeks of an increase in reader level, but she gets it figured out. Bless her heart, the child has a hard time with "what." She wants to sound it out as w-at.

With that, I'm going to take me and my overly running brain, wind down and settle into bed. K- had a rather long day which resulted in her turning into an absolute pile this evening. She hasn't done that since school started but she totally fell apart. I had to use my whispering voice, but we assured her that we love her and she just needs to sleep.

I'm there with her. 'Night! Have a great day!