You know that time where someone pulled a prank on you? The one where you wondered if you were being Punk'd? Well that's been me lately. I'm not sure if it's because I am new to this SAHM thing or because Princess is smarter than all of us or because shall I dare say the school is not following through like they should before calling me to come down to the school.
The first time it happened I was miffed because my day was interrupted to come pick up Princess from school. We worked so hard to get her to be going to school full time again after a loooong break in her schedule. I was at home probably doing laundry or washing the dishes. (Two chores that I never seem to finish or be caught up on for long.) When all of a sudden my cell phone rang. Thanks to lovely Caller ID, I could tell right away that it was Princess's school. They were calling to tell me that she wasn't feeling well and to pick her up. As it turned out my daughter's teacher had been out for a few days and she was missing me. On top of that one of her medications was making her sleepy so the substitute and the school assumed she was ill. As soon as we walked out of the office, Princess perked up.
After this incident, I informed the school that from now on I wanted to only be called if Princess had a fever or was throwing up. I know from experience that my daughter can be a hypochondriac but apparently her new school does not.
About three weeks later I received another phone call from the school. This time they told me that Princess needed a new pair of underwear. They told me that she told them that she had tinkled in them. I asked if they could check because in the past she has had a problem where she thought she had tinkled but it was just her sensory issues making her think this. The office manager told me that because of privacy laws and health laws they could not. I was informed that Princess could not return to her class unless she had clean underwear. So I quickly ran to the school to bring new underwear and a few spares for future tinkle episodes.
Yesterday's crisis took the cake. This time Princess's teacher called me to say that Princess started her period. What? Yep you read that right, her period. Princess refused to put on a pad. Her teacher felt that she would feel uncomfortable without a pad so I should come and get Princess.
I totally freaked out. I mean my daughter is only 8 1/2. I had seen some of the tell tale signs but I had not talked about puberty or periods to Princess. I felt like the loser mom.
So I gathered some clean clothes and made my way to the school once again. On my way there I called my husband and told him. I asked him to call our daughter's therapist because she always has good insight into these things. She is a great resource for my husband and I since Princess is such a high needs child. Then I called our pediatrician whom we adore. I called her since Princess was on the very young side to be having Aunt Flo visit on a monthly basis. Of course the doctor was on lunch break so I left a message with her exchange. Then I called my BFF who has a 21 year old daughter so I know she's been through this before. Thankfully my BFF was able to take my call and comfort me a bit.
My biggest concern was that I would mess up my reaction and "the talk" horribly causing my daughter to be scarred for life. My BFF told me that she would be available for Princess to talk to if I needed her to. God bless her!
When I got to the school office, Princess was sound asleep in the nurse's office. My first thought was that this whole thing had really taken it's toll on Princess. Poor kid. After I woke her up, I again asked her if she wanted a pad to which she shook her head. Then we gathered her things and walked to the car. Once there I started asking her about what happened and what she told the teacher. From the way that she was talking I questioned whether or not everything had been fully investigated before the teacher jumped to the conclusion that my little cherub had started her period.
Princess said that she wiped her bum after a BM and noticed blood on the tissue. She wasn't sure if it had been in the front as well.
About this time, the pediatrician called back. She gave me some things to look for. She also told me that if Princess had indeed started her period that we would have to get her hormone levels checked. Oh joy! More blood work. I told her that from talking to Princess that I thought this may be a false alarm.
After I got off of the phone, I took my daughter to the restroom where we were going to have lunch. (Hey this is a big day! We have to celebrate! Besides I hadn't had lunch yet when all of this commotion began.) Thankfully for us, there was no one in the restroom. I checked things out so to speak and questioned Princess a bit more. It seems she was a bit constipated so she strained. So that is what happened.
This was a big relief to me because I wasn't ready to deal with monthly visits from Aunt Flo just quite yet. Just getting Princess to wear a training bra was a huge undertaking that involved lots of drama. I can't even imagine what having to wear a pad will be like for my texture sensitive daughter.
I do however have to continue to encourage Princess to eat more fruits and vegetables. She also needs to drink more water.
Later that day, against the advice of our family therapist, who had called me back while we were eating; I took Princess to the bookstore so I could get some books on the topic of periods since this is now part of my daughter's vocabulary. After carefully looking over The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls and The Care and Keeping of You: Journal 1 for Younger Girls, I purchased them along with a couple of books that Princess wanted. Both books are published by the great folks at American Girl. Last night, before bed, we read a little bit about bras but that was all that Princess was interested in for the time being.
The reason that the therapist did not want me to get the books was because she was afraid they might be more than what Princess is ready for. Since she is not really interested in them, I can read aloud the parts that she is interested in and that are relevant to her. The publishers also have a book for older kids.
As I said at the beginning of this post I am not sure if all of these false alarms are because I am new to this SAHM thing or that the school is not fully investigating Princess's claims. I think the school has never seen the likes of a kid like Princess. I think I need to help them out a little so that my daughter can stay in school more. I don't want to be Negative Nellie but Princess could still end up outsmarting us all.
Can this cute kid be getting ready for puberty? Please Dear Lord not yet!
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