Stephanie always seems to want me to update this diary at the worst times. I'm not sure I get that, but she just asked me to update it, so here goes.

The past few weeks have been a roller coaster with her. And not the fun kind. Imagine the most horrifying roller coaster you can think of. Yeah.

To start with, we had a spectacular weekend for Rachel and Justin's wedding. (I started to say "Rachel's wedding," but Justin was there, too...) Stephanie was amazingly good the whole weekend.

Even into the next week, she was very good.

Then things started going south rapidly. One thing that did change, was we let her have some cheese again. Not a lot, mind you, but a little bit. But it's hard for me to believe that a small amount of cheese could cause the trouble we have had this week.

There have been severe meltdowns every day this week. The mornings seem fine. She would be happy enough as we go to school, seeming okay. But then she would get in the car after school and start demanding things. One day, she wanted to go to Target to fill out a job application. I said that we would need to discuss this with Mom first. She wouldn't let go of it and it escalated into a total meltdown. She was okay for a little while at home, but then something else started. I don't even remember what it was. She got in a fight with Christi on the phone, while Christi was driving home. Then, after she got home, it continued, and her computer was taken away from her. Well, not the actual computer, because we couldn't get to it because she put it behind her bed, and if we had tried to crawl over her to get it, I really think she would have hurt us. So Christi took the power cord.

The rest of the night was one screaming fit after another, interrupted by a thirty minute spell of wailing and crying that her chest hurt and she needed to go to the hospital. I'm sure her chest did hurt. She does suffer from occasional costochondritis, which is aggravated by stress. And stress was really happening that night. I stopped that one by telling her that if her chest still hurt that bad tomorrow, I would take her to the doctor. She never mentioned it again!

She was still melting down when we just gave up and went to bed. When I left for work, she was sound asleep in her room.

The next day, she got in the car after school demanding that we stop at Target and get her a cd. She wants Kris Allen's cd.

Suddenly, she stated that I'm not her dad anymore. And mom isn't her mom anymore. She doesn't want to live with us anymore.

Now. I confess. I reacted badly. I turned off the main road, pulled over and told her to get out, then. If she didn't want to live us and we weren't her parents, then get out.

She did! Got out, got her backpack and walked to the corner. At this point, I'm going..."Oh, crap. What do I do now??"

I really wasn't going to just leave her there. I couldn't do that. I tried to get her into the car, but she wouldn't get in. So I parked and got out and walked to where she was standing, and we stood there for a good twenty minutes while people drove by. I was terrified that someone was going to think I was trying to abduct her, and if they questioned us, she would tell them that I was not her father. Gah!

Lesson: Don't threaten something you're not prepared to carry out.

Anyway. I called Christi to let her know what was going on. She said I had two choices...drive away and leave her or call the police. I told Steph that, and she certainly didn't want the police involved. She wouldn't talk to her mother on my phone, but then she called her on her own phone.

Finally, I had a desperate thought. While she was telling Christi that she didn't want to live with us anymore, I said, "If I get you a drink at Sonic will you get in the car?" Her eyes got real big, and she said, "Can I eat something there?" I said "Sure." She said, "Okay" and handed me the phone.

She was totally fine from that point on. The rest of the night was great.

CAN ANYONE FIGURE THAT OUT???

So...on to today. She went to school just fine.

When I got there to pick her up, I was met by one of the Stars teachers, who said they needed me to come in. They already had the campus officer in there and were trying to get her to leave, but she wouldn't.

I got in there, and the officer called on of the Vice-principals in, who wanted to talk to me. Stephanie has had several challenging days in a row. *duh* For two days, she has been pretty good for the mornings, but refused to do anything in the afternoon. As a result of this behavior, she decided that Steph needed to be suspended for tomorrow and not allowed to go to school.

Now, picture this scenario. They had just about gotten Stephanie ready to leave, when this principal drops this bomb! That freaked Stephanie out! She doesn't want to miss school tomorrow. She even begged for ISS. They said no, she couldn't come to school. Then she started back into the "I don't want to go home with my Dad" thing again. Then she said, "He hurts me."

O.o *face/palm*

Keep in mind...there is a police officer in the room.

The vp told Steph that she better be very careful about what she says in there, with me standing there, and the office there.

After that, strangely enough, Steph calmed down and agreed to go home. She hugged me and told me she was sorry.

Hopefully, CPS won't be stopping by anytime soon. Christi told Steph she better get her room cleaned up before the police come to the house...

So anyway..that's where we are as of right now. She seems ok for now. We just have no clue what has caused this recent increase in meltdowns, both in intensity and in quantity.

Needless to say, we are feeling rather hopeless right now. However, Christi and I both know that there is always hope in the Lord and we will be seeking his comfort as we deal with this and try to get some answers and relief.

As always, all prayers and positive thoughts will be appreciated. As well as advice. Definitely open for some of that. Yep.

TTFN, y'all!

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