My kid is weird (but you already knew that)

A friend of mine came over on Wednesday to teach me how to crochet and watch some old Highlander Season 1 episodes and gently (lovingly) mock them. Nesko had a potential job/training thing that morning, so he didn’t drop Niko off at his parents’ as is usual on Wednesdays, so Niko got to hang with my friend (who he really likes, so that’s always cool. He especially likes eating any food she is eating.) She brought with her a skein of yarn and Niko had fun playing with it, holding it, petting it, hugging it, kissing it, calling it a tootoot (because it’s long, like a train) and a mew mew (because it’s soft, like a kitty). He also patted it, then patted the rug, because the fibers feel pretty similar.

Then my friend started unskeining the skein and turning it into a ball.

And he freaked out.

He wouldn’t come near us on the couch. He said “no” a lot. He clutched his hands and made a fretful face. When we tried to encourage him to touch the ball he refused. If we offered it to him, he ran away.

This child does not deal with change well.

Today saw me crocheting and ripping the stitches out to start again (haha, ripping them out. I just, you know, pulled the end until it all unraveled) because I am one of those people who works really small– which is one reason knitting is such torment to me (the other reason is that I have a problem following spatial directions and telling left from right– this is an actual problem with my actual brain– so doing unfamiliar stuff like knitting throws me for a loop unless someone is showing me in a very specific way how to do it. I can cast on like nobody’s business but the next step? Uh. Yeah.) so part of what I’ve been doing is making my stitches larger so I’m not, you know, crocheting Kevlar. Anyway, Niko wouldn’t come near me most of the day when I was crocheting and kept calling the ball of yarn “no ball” and “tootoot ball” (because when it was a skein, it was a train, get it?) and running away if the ball got too close to him. By the evening (and Nesko’s return) Niko would sit on the couch next to me, and he kept talking about rolling the ball, but he wouldn’t touch it. He stopped running away if I offered it to him, though. He just stood there looking worried.

I don’t know what it is about change that freaks him out so much. I’m glad it isn’t worse than it is… he doesn’t freak out when I peel an orange or cut up an apple. But it still worries me. I mean, grass used to freak him out. Grass. The stuff that grows in the dirt and people walk and sit on (or don’t walk or sit on because OMGGRAASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS). The first time it rained on him, and he was aware of rain, he could not cope. (He’d been out in rain, drizzle, as an infant but, you know, didn’t remember that or something.)

It maybe sounds like I keep this kid in a dim basement with nothing but three wooden blocks and a spoon for amusement. I swear, we go out! We do stuff! He is exposed to new things! Some of those new things just… really wig him out, I guess.

Technorati Tags: anxiety, parenting, toddler

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Brave new opportunities

Mirrored from Words, words, words, art..

I volunteer at the Albany Park Community Center, working with Adult Basic Education (ABE) Math students.

I noticed a flyer on the wall for a woodworking/CNC operator training program. It’s open to Chicago residents who fit certain income parameters and want to go into a career woodworking/CNC operating, offers tuition assistance, and has like 90% job placement upon completion of the 12 week program.

It took several weeks of phone tag, but Nesko finally got hold of the place and went to orientation on Wednesday. Where he found out that the program starts next Monday. Which, you know, is too soon for him to join because he currently has a job and we don’t have enough money to tide us over for him not working for 3 months. He spoke with someone at the program, though, who said that with Nesko’s background and experience and skills he should have no problem 1) being accepted to the program 2) getting full financial assistance (which just covers tuition, not living expenses) and 3) getting a job after. So he’s going to call again in July to get Orientated and start the program at its next session in September.

Which means we have about 5 months to work something out regarding stockpiling 3+ months of living expenses, maybe working out something with his current job where he works only late afternoons/evenings, me getting a job, etc. I mean, I’ve been looking for a job for months now. But a friend of mine offered to mind Niko while I’m working, as long as SHE isn’t working, so… that frees me up quite a bit. At the very least, it gives us some time to get some cash banked so we can enroll Niko in day care while waiting for an application for subsidized daycare to be processed.

I’m still looking for a permanent position, but I called my temp agency for the first time in months to get back on their rolls.

I’m tentatively excited about everything going on… me working outside the home, Nesko starting training for something that would be a CAREER (and that, frankly, he’s been talking about doing since 1997, which is when I met him, which means he’s been considering it for even longer) and not just a job.

We’re due for a nice tax refund which should arrive in May-ish. We have more places to put that money than actual money, but at this point, we’re planning on just putting it aside for the three months he (probably) won’t be working, while he’s training. We’ll have THAT if nothing else.

Wish us luck on sorting out this financial situation. We need to get things squared away before he can even consider the program. There’s no way we can live on air for 3 months while he’s not pulling in an income.

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