How low is a snake's belly button?

Since I'm pondering snakes and navels, you might be able to guess that I'm feeling a bit down right now. The past couple of weeks have been challenging and I'm pretty tired. I'm trying to be positive but I seem to have misplaced my cheerleader outfit and pompoms. The latest in the Risley-Schoelles saga is as follows:

Our house woes continue...we've made an offer to the bank that now owns the house we were hoping to buy but it could be weeks/months before they respond. In the meantime, we are watching our potential buyers head for the hills unless we sell them our house immediately. I get sick to my stomach just thinking about it...

Speaking of nausea, we've all been battling a stomach virus for the past two weeks. Five of the seven of us have succumbed to 24 hours of violent vomiting followed by exhaustion and headaches; so far Kate and Dad have escaped the mini-plague. Mom and Aniyar shared the family room couch last Friday when we were both sick; we alternated tossing our cookies and dozing fitfully, a type of mother-son bonding I think we both could have done without.

We had 3 days of solid, cold, pounding rain that flooded our back yard and left us with 5 very bored kids over the weekend. We were luckier than many folks around here...roads and bridges were washed out and basements were flooded near us while we just had to keep a watchful eye on our sump pump...but cabin fever isn't pretty with our crowd. There was a lot of whining and bickering and not enough exercise to burn off all that adolescent energy. By Sunday, a rainy adults only/no kids allowed trip to BJ's Warehouse seemed like a vacation.

Yesterday, Aniyar's teacher called me to say that he has been drawing violent pictures and making a gun with his fingers when playing with his classmates. She said he's talking about killing and shooting a lot, especially regarding videogames. Of course, in our schools today, that type of behavior really freaks teachers out so I can understand the concern. However, how to cope with the situation is tricky...let's review...the kid has post-traumatic stress disorder and has been hospitalized for aggressive and unsafe behaviors in the past...but he also comes from a culture where drawing pictures of guns and playing violent games is very acceptable. He's also in a class for kids with behavioral issues and has not acted out physically or been aggressive this year. The challenge now is to figure out if this behavior indicates a problem in the making or if it's fairly typical boy stuff from a cultural perspective. For now, we've told Aniyar that we're worried about the unacceptable behaviors at school and we'll be taking a break from videogames that involve weapons until he can show us that he understands the rules at school. He's not too happy about this turn of events. It's ironic...Craig and I were just talking about how far Aniyar has come in the past year and how grateful we are for his progress. Let's hope we're not facing a setback.

As for our other darlings, Max had a meltdown over not getting the last lemon fruit bar for dessert the other night (No other flavor would do...) and decided he hated us all. The extra sleep he got by being sent to bed early was much needed. Madiyar decided not to work at school yesterday because he just didn't feel like it...and then he didn't want to do his homework either. It's funny, I didn't feel like helping him or fixing him a snack, either...until he finished sulking. Kate has decided that she has asthma...or the stomach virus...or maybe a brain tumor...and I should take her ailments more seriously and give her more attention. Tanya was really ticked off that she didn't do well on her Math MCAS practice test so she's been really cranky...which involved door slamming and being rude to everyone in her path for a while.

Let's hope today brings better news and attitudes...this cheerleader could use some cheering up. Oh, and in case you were wondering? Snakes don't have belly buttons...