Adderall: A Christmas Miracle

[janradder]

Ever since he was three and first saw it, Arie has loved How the Grinch Stole Christmas. His favorite part is when the Grinch says, "I'll stuff up the tree," as he shoves one of the Who's Christmas trees up the chimney. The problem has always been that when he hears that phrase, Arie will usually first laugh and then repeat the phrase and then laugh some more and then repeat the phrase again and then laugh more maniacally and so on until he has devolved into a full manic fit of laughter and throwing things around and then, finally, tears. Still, he loves the scene and looks forward to seeing it and I love that he genuinely finds it so funny. So we wait for the laugh and then remind him to settle down and not get "whipped up" and, if necessary, we've gotten firmer in the warnings and have even had to briefly shut the cartoon off.

Tonight, at dinner, I told the boys they could watch The Grinch when they were done and, because he loves it so much, I repeated the tree-stuffing line for Arie.

"Hee-hee-hee-heeeee," Arie said, remembering the line and seeming to border on bursting into hysterical laughing and making me kind of regret saying it. "Stuff up the tree. . . . That's my favorite part! It's funny!"

And then he smiled, thinking about it and went back to eating. The laughing fit never arrived. Haddayr and I looked at each other with raised eyebrows.

Later, when he watched the cartoon, he laughed at the line again and, thanks to the power and magic that is Adderall, which he was not on until a few months ago, he kept watching the cartoon without any warnings, threats or unpleasantness.

Comments

[silk-noir.livejournal.com]

Whew!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

It was pretty nice.

[mia-mcdavid.livejournal.com]

Oh, praise Go--I mean, you *drug* your child?????

;-)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

And I still remember a few years ago when Haddayr and I were trying to work with Arie without drugs.

[maggiesox.livejournal.com]

This makes me incredibly happy.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Me too!

[albionidaho.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Our household too cherishes this drug.

And my grinchy heart just grew a little more.

[st-writes.livejournal.com]

That is great!
We just watched the Grinch again on Sunday. This morning Kai was singing the wahoo christmas wahoo wahoo song over and over when he was supposed to be eating breakfast. One might consider this cute, or one might find it very annoying. It all depends on one's mood at the moment....

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Do you now have the strength of ten Grinches, plus two?

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Éiden has a lot of those "cute/annoying" moments himself.

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

Indeed I do!

[sarahgoss.livejournal.com]

Ahh, maybe I can show Daisy the Grinch before too long, too, then. I think she'd enjoy it. This blog post has gotten me back in the world as I know it, thank God... I have just returned from a tour of the Waldorf preschool in which they basically told us that if we expose our kids to any media before they're teenagers we are evil and damaging them for life. And I was so looking forward to showing her The Grinch and Charlie Brown's Christmas. It was a 2.5 hour tour and my head is spinning. (Sorry for the tangent... love the Grinch.)

[janradder.livejournal.com]

Dear God in Heaven! Not the Waldorf School?! They'll also insist that giving a child a writing instrument before the age of eight will destroy their entire lives and that kids should only play with rocks and sticks. I hate the Waldorf School!

[sarahgoss.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh, thank you for saying that. I hated it too. It seemed totally insane to me but I felt like I was maybe the only person at the presentation who felt that way. You are right about the writing implements--and BOOKS were bad--and artifical light--and anything made out of plastic.

[janradder.livejournal.com]

I know, it's lunacy. And I've met people who've sent or are sending their kids to one and they seem perfectly normal.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes the Waldorf School is NOT for a girl with early verbal abilities. She's going to want to write, and they're going to try to wave shiny objects in front of her face to make her forget about writing.

Except they won't be very shiny, because they'll have to be made of ALL NATURAL materials, and she'll learn to write anyway and she'll be RUINED.

Noe found a non-insane Waldorf school in Pittsburgh, she claims, but I am dubious. I'm not sure Waldorf schools come in the "non-insane" variety.

[haddayr.livejournal.com]

I am going to make myself a T-shirt that says: I LOVE ADDERALL right across the boobs. Let those self-righteous hippies stare.