Rainbows in My Paperwork

I am signing my name to so many forms, I am starting to wish I had a fancier signature. One with a few more swirls, or maybe I will start using colored ink.

I didn't think about this part of it all. The stacks and stacks of paperwork that are required to even make an appointment. I am usually good at this part, being Mrs. Organized. I stop at the office or print out the paperwork so I can fill it out at home at my leisure. This is almost always a guarantee that there will be some kind of food or drink on these forms.

Most of it is fine.... Name, date of birth, place of birth, sex, phone number, insurance info... Yeah yeah yeah, I have all that stuff covered just fine- until I start to put my info and not Daniels... Crap. Yay for that colored ink, not only do I look like an idiot, but I look like an idiot in orange...

Moving on. Medical history used to be hard but after 3 months I can breeze right throught that too... Names of all the crap Dan has had, the dates and the long foreign looking names of the medications. Being a 'naturopathic baby' the herbs alone sound like some kind of weird soup when I re-read it, not to mention the crazy names of Homeopathic remedies... Nux Vomica? Whada who? Like I said after a while its nothing- like learning to spell Mississippi as a kid. Now my Mississippi is a specific medical terminology. This part has moved up from pencil to ink.

Insurance info- The paper work for this part is easy. Copy said information on to the form... The hard part is knowing the exact coverage. I want Daniel to get all the help he can, that means seeing a lot of different doctors and therapists. To find ones that he fits well with takes time, and uses some of his valuable 'Allowed Visits'....And that my friends is a whole other post entirely... As fas as this one is concerned... the actual paperwork part goes smoothly. I can happily fill this form out in purple if I so like..

On to the final part of the paperwork. What we are dealing with, with Daniel is developmental, and so his paperwork reflects this. I HATE these sections. I swear the questions are designed to tie my brain in knots. You read them and they look easy enough, until you have to put your answer into words.

What do you like best about your child?


Pfft, no problem. Let me whip out my green pen and I will put how sweet he is... wait... Daniel is sweet, but I can do better then that. Most of this paperwork is about what's 'wrong' with him, I really want to make this answer count! Ok, he's got a great smile...No, every kid has that. Come on, is this question really this hard? Yes! It was for me anyway. The pressure to decide what I liked 'best' all of a sudden seems so important. Maybe I will come back to this one.

What would you like to see changed in your child?


I immedately want to put NOTHING because I am a wonderful mom, and can accept and love my child as he is. This however is not true and I realize we do need help from these professionals. So I start to write the thing that I hate most, Daniel banging his head on the floor. As soon as I see it, I scribble it out. Perhaps we shouldn't start out with his worst symptom. Too dramatic. I don't want to put something too subtle like Better table manners because at this point food all over the place is a walk in the park. Hmm... Looks like I will come back to this one too. I put my hot pink pen down.

How do you discipline your child?

Uhhhh. Great, now they are going to know the truth about me. (insert the tiny bit of doubt that this is all my fault) I think about being completely honest. I try to be consistent, give warnings, and move on to timeout, but lately I fly off the handle and overreact. I have no patience, and fight with Daniel daily about not drinking the entire half gallon of almond milk. I must admit my pride gets in the way here. Ok, so lets tone it down a little. I honestly have no idea how to discipline Daniel now. What does he understaind, what does he simply not get that I view as defiance? Lately because my heart goes out to him I let way more than I should slide. While this is very true, I sound like a push over. Frustrated I grab the black pen and simply write Timeout. Let them read between the lines.

The next three, yes count them three pages continue this way. Me over thinking each question, crossing out and rewriting. By the time I get to the end, only half the questions are answered and it looks like a second grader tried to color a rainbow on it. Flipping back through the pages it kind of brightens up the sad thought that I have to actually sit and fill out this kind of paperwork at all.