Prepare for the worst

   We had a thunder/lightning storm yesterday. Second one in as many months. It wasn't as big as the last one, but the last one scared Noah enough that he started to panic when we started seeing lightning while we were driving. Rain in 108 degree weather is just lovely, isn't it?! Just as we made it to another day, yet another storm.  This time we started seeing lightning on our way to pick up the boys from school. We got to the front of the pick -up line of cars and the boys come over to the van. Noah throws open the side door of the van and yells out "GET IN! ANOTHER STORM IS COMING!" They get in and Daniel asks if we're stopping anywhere on the way home. Noah quickly replies, "NO! WE'VE GOT TO GO HOME AND PREPARE FOR THE WORST."
   I started to think...well, isn't that the statement we need to live by when it comes to living with a bipolar child.  Pray for the best, prepare for the worst. I know it sounds pessimistic, but it's not. If we prepare for the worst, then we're prepared to help Noah through whatever it is he's dealing with at the time. Not to mention that we won't be caught off guard, embarrassed or disappointed. Embarrassed for Noah, disappointed sometimes for both Noah and the other boys...like leaving Disneyland because Noah was having a balloon meltdown.
   Recently, preparations have included trying to teach Noah to keep his voice down in public. I, personally, am always amused at what he has to say, but I have to keep a straight face or people might think I'm an awful mother who really doesn't care that her child is walking through Disneyland telling me (loudly) that if 'that African-American man was really black like people call them, then really he would be as dark as the black socks he is wearing'. Oh and Target is always a great place to watch people's reactions when your son yells down the aisle as he's on his way back from the bathroom that HIS STOMACH HURTS BUT IT WON'T COME OUT CUZ HE'S CONSTIPATED. Oh well, three weeks ago, at Target, it was that he still had diarrhea after he had been sick all week. My thoughts are always 'Well now, that's a good one to announce to the whole store. Have I taught this child nothing?' And I know I have, because the other three would come up and whisper these things to me if they were having the problem. I know...they've done it plenty of times.
   Very rarely do any of these things make me cry on the spot.  They usually just sit there in the back of my mind and then when something big happens and I'm devastated once again that my little baby has to deal with this illness. Kenny reminded me today of one of the times I did cry almost on the spot. It was Easter, and it had been a rough week with Noah. I had cried every day that week because I was so sad for him feeling so sad that week. We went to a park up in Corona where Kenny's parents go each year with their friends. It was spur of the moment, and we didn't plan to stay more than an hour because we were having my family over to our house in the afternoon. Long story short...we didn't bring food or drinks. Daniel asked Grandpa for a soda and Grandpa goes and gets him one from an ice chest. Whose it was, I don't know. The boys are standing over a storm drain grate in the middle of the grass looking down into the pipe. Daniel accidentally drops his soda and it splashes about. A few people chuckle a little and then the moment is over.  Suddenly, Noah takes off and then rushes back to where everyone was standing by that grate in the grass. He's taken a soda out of someone's ice chest. It's not open yet. Boom, before anyone even had an idea of what he was doing, they were all being sprayed by the exploding soda Noah had just smashed on the drain grate. Luckily we were getting ready to leave anyway, so it was easy to get out without Noah thinking it was because of him. I cried silently all the way home because I wasn't prepared for that one. What are ya gonna do, ya know? Hey, now I look at the bright side...I didn't really like some of the people he sprayed, and we probably won't have to go to that event for Easter ever again. Ok, so that's not nice to say in public (or online)...but Noah would say it, so why can't I?