raising a bipolar child is an adventure to say the least. some days it's like living with a badger high on pixie stix. others are more like holding a conversation with a potato. and then there's the rare "normal" periods...boy do i ache for more of those.
bailey is very adept at concealing her disorder from the general population for short periods of time. you can tell she's comfortable around you if she lets the cuckoo show in front of you. she's REEEEEEEALLY comfortable with me. she can be downright abusive and there are days i just want to shake her. then again, i really enjoy her bizzare sense of humor about her disorder. i also abhor the way she attempts to blame some of her thirteen year old attitude and behavior on it..."i can't help that i'm bipolar!" said often with a big heaving sigh. (no dear, you can not. however you can help being a petulant little mouthpiece!) i read other blogs about bipolar children and teens and feel a lot less alone some days, but i rarely see the ones who can laugh about the hillarity that ensues. i truly can not imagine anything more frustrating than what these people who we live with go thru on a daily basis...sometimes more frequently than that. BUT,i am a firm believer that humor can solve 90% of the worlds problems...and sarcasm takes care of the rest.
fortunately, this kid has inherited my sense of humor. now, admittedly, she is not always in the mood to be funny, and there are days when she is so far gone that NOTHING is funny. and on those days, if i laugh, it makes things a million times worse. and you never know which attitude you're going to get. those are the days when i can be found standing outside doors that have just been slammed in my face and silently flipping off the she-devil on the other side. fortunately, she has never opend the door to see this as it is AWFUL. okay, so it somewhat negates my application for parent of the year award, but, it makes me feel better...and she is none the wiser.
however, when it's funny, it's damn funny.
one saturday morning, bailey was plodding about the house. for a kid who bares graces 80lbs, she can make a thundering of noise when she is in a foul mood. this was one of those days where she tumbled out of bed just plain wrong, no reason needed. dominic and i usually try and avoid any conflict with her. so do the fuzzie bitches. animals know these things, and phae in particular has a strong bond with bai, sticks to her like glue, but puffs and runs when the kid is grouchy. so as i said, we were all tip-toeing around the crazy girl that morning-dom watched cartoons, i did mom things, and the fuzzies chased eachother willy-nilly around the entire house. at some point, bailey's absent little brain joined us long enough to feed the cats. as she picked up the food and water troughs, both half full and zombie walked around the table, the kitties tore into the kitchen. in disasterous slow motion i watched as phae catapulted herself on to the table, and mimzy followed suit. seeing bailey, phae attempted to skid toa stop, only to have mimzy hit her from behind with the gale force of a boulder rolling downhill. and both careened into my daughter. in panic, bailey startled and the contents of both bowls flew up into the air...and into the ceiling fan, spattering my entire kitchen with chow and water. then the cats fell to the floor in a heap. utter chaos in less than 8 seconds. and i saw it all.
i stared at bailey, wild-eyed, disoriented and covered in cat schmuck, for a couple seconds, and then the laughter began. fortunately from her as i couldn't hold it in any longer.
when the giggling dissolved i said "Whew! well that could have gone either way...". bailey smiled and said "it did. up and everywhere!"
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