This is my first post, and I'll start by saying thank goodness for this site! Following threads the last 6 months has really helped me to try and stay positive through the rough patches with DS (turns 3 this week) and DD14mo. Good on you all for being so insightful, and dare I say it, honest in your responses. Please hang in there as you read this long post - I need your input!
In 3 short years, DH and I have been on some ride with DS. The highs have been amazing and the lows, devastating. It's isolated us from our friends and some family as they just don't understand (on one hand, we must be bragging, on the other we obviously just need to punish that curiosity/sensitivity/perfectionism etc out of him). I was actually relieved when DS was referred to a Child Psych based on answers we gave about behavior at a health check at 2.5yrs. I thought that finally we would get to the bottom of 'whatever' it was that, even from birth, made him so different and more challenging than other children we know (and the ones described in the majority of parenting books).
However, I realised after the first consult that that probably wasn't going to happen. It was like the Psych. misunderstood the point of everything I said. For example, I described a perplexing moment from when he was about 22mos: he was inconsolable over a cookie that had broken when he'd dropped it, saying over and over, 'I sad.. it not a circle anymore'. She responded with 'So he's too sensitive and his reactions are inappropriate.' He is very sensitive but he is also the kind of child that can see beauty in almost anything, and convince you of it, too. Is this 'inappropriate'? I guess everything seemed out of proportion because she never asked about his strengths either? Anyway, she started a WPPSI III that day. As we had no idea what a WPPSI was, we got googling, and that's how I found this site - and my GT enlightenment began.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm so tired of being misunderstood, and being beaten around the head with generalizations from people about how 'all kids (insert whatever you like)'. We are just a normal family trying to get through each day with our VERY intense children, and our oft repeated catch-phrase 'It's complicated.'
Please tell me if our story sounds familiar, because I'm starting to think that maybe all 2 year olds really are discussing gravitational pull at the dinner table...
