Day 6: Meltdown

(I will preface this post by saying, in the grand scheme of things, today really wasn't that bad.  But, in our little world here, today we all hit rock bottom.)

Charlie had a meltdown today.  We had expected it and could see it coming so we weren't surprised when he fell apart.  We were stuck in that same little room AGAIN and weren't allowed to go outside AGAIN.  It's the weekend, there's different staff and it seemed like a different schedule so we aren't sure if we were interrupting something fun but at one point Charlie got up, waved and said, poka (bye) and walked out the door.  Now he didn't put on his jacket and hat prior to doing this so he really had no real intention of leaving.  He was just testing us.  He was testing us for the entire two hours. At one point he hit Brent with something and, very calmly but firmly, Brent took it away.  Charlie did not like that.  He had a small temper tantrum and the whole time I just wanted to tell him, trust me, Buddy, I feel exactly the same way; I totally get it.  Because truth be told, at this point I want to have a hissy fit, too.  We are all so over all of this it is not even funny.  We bought six bottles of beer on the way home (which cost all of $2, by the way) and I'm almost positive we are likely to finish them all tonight.

It's time to go home, y'all.

Brent's 2 cents ( I don't contribute much) - the tantrum lasted all of 2 minutes.... but it was the longest 2 minutes of my life. I have ZERO patience for misbehaving.  I know he was testing me, but he was obviously not testing Mary, and that was hard for me. I get it, I am the new figure in his life, he is used to being around around women so she is not the novelty. Yea me...the novelty, the focus of all his curiosities and boundary testing. Sigh, this is WAAAAAAYYYYY outside my comfort zone. I got through it, I kept my cool and we ended up with a high five, handshake and a hug. We don't speak the same language, but we have figured out that those gestures are our way of saying "we are cool."
So I guess I can bump my patience scale up to 0.5/10.

Closing note: Brent is my hero.  I am not sure where he is stashing his cape on this trip but I have never been more in awe of him in the 10+ years we have known each other.  He has had more poise, more patience and more confidence than I have ever seen him have.  He's amazing.  Lastly, with what Charlie is capable of despite almost 12 years of orphanage-ing, he will definitely be force to reckon with once we get him home.  It's hard but oh so worth it.