Mood Pendulum

Last evening, Ben brought Ash to the church, where I was working my second job.  Ash needed some time to read in a quiet place for his summer reading assignment.  Since the doors were locked, Ash sent me a text quickly to let me know they were pulling in and I walked out to the lobby to let him in.  

As Ash unfolded himself from the front seat, I was aware of the back door on the far side of the car flying open and slamming shut.  Eli came tearing around the back end of the car, with a look of sheer unhappiness on his little freckled face.  I heard Ash say something to him, and Eli yelled, "NO!"  

 Alarmed, I opened the door and said, "Eli!  What's wrong Buddy?"  He threw himself into me, wrapped his little arms tightly around my waist and held on for dear life.

Then the smell hit me.  It was what we kids always called "chicken soup pits".  That onion-y smell of sour armpits, and it was rising up from Eli to smack my nose around.  Stress was just rolling off this distraught child, and I knew right then....he is DEFINITELY going through some hormonal changes!  

I guess that answers that question (see previous post) ....

Apparently Eli's distress started at home when he was asked to help out with a chore.  It was not an unfair request.  Our children have responsibilities at home every week.  There's a list, and each week they are responsible for certain chores on that list.  

To Eli, if that's not his chore for the week, then he shouldn't have to do it.  He can't comprehend the idea that you would do something to help someone out, if it's not your week to do it.    

Since Ben is working this week to replace the bathroom floor, he'd asked Eli to help him out by loading the dishwasher (a chore that Eli really dislikes).  Nothing big, nothing major, and Eli SHOULD have simply done the chore to be helpful.  But instead the emotional upset was more than he could handle.  

Now, here he was, pressed into me, clinging and desperate, because he wanted to stay with me too.  Or... more accurately, he didn't want to go home.  Eli's behavior had been so nasty that Ben had told him staying with me at the church was no longer an option. Now here he was, fighting against that decision without being able articulate what he was going through in an appropriate way.  So he ended up running from the car to me...and then he ran from me.  Down the hallway of the church....and disappeared.  

Oh boy.

Long story short.... after Eli took off down the hall and hid in the church in a last ditch effort to avoid going home, I managed to locate him, talk him down from his approaching meltdown, get him to apologize to daddy and get his mood to swing back from Meltdown Land to Happy Land.  We've been riding the Mood Pendulum from one extreme to another for over a week now.  I know I'm ready for a break from it... I can only imagine what his little heart, as well as his mind, is going through.  I'm sure he's ready for a break too.

When we got Eli home, we sent him to shower and wash really, really well under his arms, and actually USE the deodorant he has!  Hormonal shifts are stinky!

I'm going to have to start finding blogs that deal with Autism and the Teen Years... I thought I would have a few more years before I'd have to be dealing with that.  Looks like I'm going to have to start preparing now.