The Letdown

As would be expected, Caroline is experiencing a letdown of sorts about being out of the routine she was in for almost four months, and back in the noisy realm of our home. She's been kind of down and grumpy, which hasn't alarmed me but definitely is a contrast from how she was during our visits with her in Texas. Gone is the spunkiness. She kind of mopes around, looking lost. I am also aware that she is back to trying to eat whatever whenever, which isn't good. I told her yesterday we were starting a strict meal/snack schedule that we would all be following. She was fine with that since she craves structure anyhow. I would hate to see her gain back the twenty pounds she lost, now that cross country season is upon us. She says she is out of shape, which I guess she means stamina and conditioning, because she looks fabulous. She hasn't run for four months so she will have some work to do.

I got mad at her yesterday when we were in Wal-Mart school supply shopping. She got agitated as soon as we entered the store. I need to remember that Wal-Mart is overstimulating, noisy, crowded, and too big for her. Target would have been a better choice, or even Walgreens. She becomes quickly frustrated by the confusion (and the messiness of the store shelves since there has been a stampede there apparently.) She kept snapping at me, showing no patience at all. I called her on it rather angrily myself. I don't think it is back to things as they were before, but I do think that she's going through a lot internally.