TwinkleToes,

This is terrible, but misery loves company. Reading your very tired email gives me a place to stop and pant in commiseration. I have me one of those as well - PG and apparently mildly ADHD (big question mark here), and it is rough. In the past several days, I've gotten so upset with the churlish remarks, the subtle blame-it-on-mummy-for-this-and-that that I'm absolutely drained. And yes, there's the nonstop talking - it's doubly worse when I'm driving and he refuses audiobooks because he's just thought of a wonderful invention that he needs to talk about. Like a lot of you, I've stopped complaining to friends because they all think I lucked out. That sort of comment just stops me short because the very thought is so multi-layered. The more I explain, the more resentful I feel!

To cope, I've ordered a set of Howard Glasser books recommended by Grinity (if you're reading this, thanks for the rec) called Transforming the Difficult Child. I'm really hoping 1) to get them soon and 2) that they work for us.

I've been keeping a journal on what triggers these intense episodes and the latest I've come up with is that he's very easily over-stimulated. This happens when he's working on his robotics, having lessons with a high school physics teacher (thinks the world of DS and vice versa), or playing strategy board games. The last 3 nights, he barely slept a total of 15hrs, and he is crabby. You see, the school holidays have just started for him and he is free to indulge in his favourite past times. We're not booked to travel till mid next week and I'm trying hard not to blow my top in the meanwhile because he'll definitely be more relaxed once we're off. Unlike some of the other kids, he does not want to go out to burn off his energy or meet with anyone apart from his best friend (only happens once a week), so I'm stuck till then. At least this is the weekend and DH is helping to take some of the load.

In the meanwhile, yes, I'm trying to feel empathy that it's tough for him. That's harder to do on some days than others! And I'm willing myself to think positive thoughts. Absolutely, a spa day soon sounds necessary.

Maybe we can have a virtual group spa day for all the frazzled mums here. We certainly deserve it!