Times of Sadness to times of Laughter

We overslept yesterday and missed going to church. In the end, it more than likely worked out for the best. My mom was sick and if we don't go to my mom's after church we have an awful time.....Payton's routine is messed up and she has an "off" day. After getting up and around we went outside so Payton could ride her bike and I could take Koen for a ride in the wagon (Bob was busy cutting down trees and limbs from the recent ice storm). As we were walking down the driveway our neighbor pulled in just to say hi and see how our Christmas was. They noticed Payton's bike and asked if it was a Christmas present (it was, but she didn't respond). I told them yes and asked the boys what they had gotten for Christmas. Sam was so excited and said he had gotten a fire station. Payton looks at him and shouts "ME TOO!" and then starts talking about her birthday cake. We all just laughed and joined in with her excitement about her birthday cake. The neighbors soon left, but Payton had them in her head so she ended up riding her bike down to their house. I think she would've hung out in their driveway all day, so I asked if she'd like to ask the boys to ride bikes with her. She quickly responded yes so we walked to the door and rang the doorbell. The boys saw her through the window and yelled "its Payton!". They opened the door and Payton walked right in and started taking her coat and hat off. I reminded Payton to ask them if they wanted to ride bikes outside but she just kept walking off to wander and investigate the home. Koen and I visited with their mom for a bit and then she asked if Payton would like to stay for a bit. I asked Payton and she didn't respond...but I figured she would like to stay and play for a while. I was a bit nervous though, it was the first time I'd left her at someone's home that wasn't family. About 30 minutes later, Michelle brought Payton home and said Payton just didn't seem to know what to do with herself. Which, I was so thankful they went ahead and brought her home - but unfortunately my decision to allow Payton to stay and play wrecked havoc on the rest of our day.

I'm not sure the reasoning, and I'm sure Heather could enlighten me because she has had so much experience with Caleb and the anxiety, but Payton seems to get almost violent when she gets anxious. Payton ran thru the door right when she got home and I stayed at the door to talk with Michelle for a couple of minutes. By the time I got back in the living room Payton had already given Koen a huge welp on his face and ended up sitting on the bed for a while. It went from that, to throwing the cat in the trash, to throwing our trash can (yes she is small, but mighty!) and having trash scattered everywhere, to hitting Bob with a wrench he'd been using to work on something in the house, to biting and kicking. Yesterday evening after she'd gone to bed and it was quiet, I realized I knew in my gut it was time for Payton to get on anxiety medicine. It's not fair for her to not be able to cope with the changes (or be terrified of snakes, baby elephants, drills, windshield wipers, clocks, and koen's medicine, etc.) and not be able to live a good quality life. It's disruptive not just for her life but for Bob, my and Koen's life as well. We see the geneticist on January 9th and I'm hopeful we have a good experience with a medication. It's strange as a mom how all of a sudden your gut instincts kick in and you just know.
Ofcourse, Payton gives us such joy she makes everything worthwhile. My mom was keeping the kids today because Bob and I both had to work and her sitter had taken the day off. Mom wanted to call me and check on me (she knew our day yesterday was tough) and she knew if she told Payton she was calling me that Payton would want to talk. Anyways, Payton asked my mom "what you doing?" and my mom said "I'm calling somebody". So, as my mom and I were talking Payton ran over and tried grabbing the phone. My mom asked her if she wanted to say hi and Payton obviously said yes (not realizing who was on the other end of the phone). Payton grabbed the phone and said "Hi Somebody!". My heart melted and I just busted out laughing. I guess since my mom told her she was calling somebody Payton thought that "somebody" was their name. Wow-laughter is good for the soul!