The boy who went jump in the night
Or
No, Timmy, he didn’t bounce.
Or
Thank God for snow banks
Or
……..
Okay, so here’s the low down. Jeremiah, as you know if you’ve been keeping up with this story line, has been having a very hard time lately. Ever since the day after Christmas he’s been off kilter and has had a very hard time being part of the family…literally. He can’t handle family dynamics, and showing respect for Mom and Dad is definitely too hard. Also, there has been a lot of sneaking and stealing, mostly of food, but sometimes of electronic items.
We finally installed alarms the other day, which has definitley helped deter a lot of the sneaking, just because he knows he will be caught. He does it mostly for the thrill of victory, not really the items specified, so alarms make it absolutley no fun.
Well…last night was a particularly bad night. He was trying everything in his power to engage Hubby and myself in a battle over minor things, so finally he was sent up to his room…again…until he made the choice to be kind and respectful. He never came down. He went to sleep. Which was fine, but odd. He ALWAYS wants me to tuck him in. Even if it’s been the crapiest night where he’s been cussing me out like crazy and says he hates me and wants to leave forever etc… he ALWAYS wants to be tucked in. Well, not last night. So I let him sleep.
I stayed up for quite a while waiting for Hubby to get home from his dad’s, so I didn’t get to bed until a little after 1. Kaleb woke me at 1:30 and wanted to talk, a conversation filled with lots of answered prayers which I will blog about later. Anywho, I didn’t get to go back to sleep until about 2:30.Before I fell asleep, the Lord laid Jeremiah on my heart, so I prayed our usual bed time prayer, that God would guard Jeremiah with His angels and give him a good nights sleep with good dreams about God’s perfect kingdom. Then I slept.
4:00 AM Kaleb bursts through the bedroom door, and in classic Kaleb style, doesn’t skip a beat waiting for me to wake up, he jumps right into the reason he was disturbing my sleep.
Hubby:Do you have any idea what’s going on?
Me: What?
Hubby: Did you hear that thump?
Me: Huh?
Hubby: He jumped out the window! Jeremiah jumped out the frickin’ window and is hobbling around!
Me: Is he okay?
Hubby: No! He’s limping and saying his back hurts and his rib hurts. He jumped out the second story frickin’ window!
Hubby was at a near panic. Jeremiah was sitting calmly at the kitchen table, so I focused on calming Hubby first.
So….apparently, since alarms are on the doors, Jeremiah decided in his 10 year old brain that it would be a good idea to jump out of his second story bedroom window onto the snowbank below, a good 18-20 foot fall. The reason? He wanted to sneak food. Any food. It didn’t matter. He fell butt first into the snow. We can still see the imprint. Kaleb heard the thump, but thought i was our neighbor dropping wood. It took a good 20 minutes before Jeremiah hobbled through the front door and tried to sneak back upstairs. YES! He tried to sneak BACK UPSTAIRS! Hubby heard wimpering and discovered the limping lad.
So…off to the ER we go at 4 in the morning. He was not walking well, but he could walk. Thank you, Father! We got to the ER a little before 5 because the roads were slick due to the freezing rain we’ve been getting. The doctor came out to the car to evaluate Miah and they brought a stretcher out to the car just to be sure.
The doctor we had was amazing. His name was David, and he looked and sounded like an older version of my older brother. He asked all the right questions, watched Miah walk, and asked more questions. One of the big things he wanted to know was whether Miah would be reliable enough to tell me if the pain was getting worse or if it changed. Umm, NO! I don’t know if this is a RAD symptom or what, but Miah could be playing outside and come in bleeding and it wouldn’t phaze him one bit, but if he bumps into someone he will act like he is dying. No. Not reliable. In fact, he didn’t tell the doctor about his hurting rib AND told the doctor he wasn’t on any medications AND told the doctor that he jumps out his window all the time.
The doctor ordered x-rays since Miah was still walking well, but when they came back he couldn’t tell if what he was seeing was simply Miah’s growth plates in his spine, or if there were chips, so he ended up ordering a CT scan anyway.
We waited a while for the results because apparently they have to send them off to Minnesota.
While we waited, Jeremiah started to get loud and a little wild. I told him he needed to lay quietly until the doctor came back. He asked me if I was mad that he wasn’t hurt. I told him that of coarse I was happy he wasn’t hurt. I was mad because he jumped out his bedroom window.
Any questions from me or the doctor about what happened and why resulted in deliberate rabbit trails. “Oh look, my hand looks like a chameleon.” or “I never know’d there was such a thing as hot chocolate.” Yup. Uh huh. And no, he didn’t have a concussion.
So amazingly, our little guy came out of his daredevil sneak attempt nearly completely unscaved. Bruises on his bum. That’s it. Not even a cracked tail bone. He’s spending the day in his room resting, but has already come down once with “I’m feeling much better!” Uh huh. Yup. Go rest!
So, what to do now? Well, alarms on the windows I guess. We are almost wishing he was a little hurt, because now the boy thinks he is super man.
Lord, thank you so much for protecting our son. Show us how to handle this in an effective, loving way. Thank you, Father.
Anyone had a jumper before? Help, please!
Blessings!
Hannah
7 Comments
Ummm…. I was a jumper back in Junior high. I think my reasons where a little bit different than your son’s reasons, but if you would like to know how my parents dealt with the situation I’d be more than happy to share with you. I’ll be praying for you guys, you are pretty awesome people.
Hey there! I’ve been ready a new book that you should TOTALLY check out. It’s a set of books that our social worker recommended that we read in regards to the boys we are adopting – and so far – it’s been like road map for us. It goes through all the “issues” you been working through with Miah…
Beyond Consequences Logic and Control (Heather T. Forbes)
Seriously – I bet you’d find it extremely helpful!
Lord, I thank you that this boy is in a safe home with a family that loves and trusts in You. I pray that You would touch his heart in the way only You can. Take him in Your arms. Break the hurts off his heart and let him know the love of he parents you have given to him. Bless Kaleb and Hannah with divine wisdom and revealtion in their parenting. Hold them close to You as well. Amen.
Oh my, Hannah. Nope, of all the kids and problems, I never had a jumper! All I can tell you is that you are handling it well, facing it head-on, and walking Miah through the cause and effect laws. What I can tell is that someday there will be a reward. At different points along the way, he’ll GET it. He may never get it all at once, or maybe even never get all of it, but you will see rewards for your commitment. Blessings and love to you!
Oh, Hannah…bless your heart. When we were growing up, my older siblings (I’m number 6 of 7) used to run through the living room, jump out the window, fly off the front porch, run around the house, in the back door, through the living room, out the window…you get the picture. Joel, thinking his older brother was “superman”, tried to follow them once, and the window came slamming down on him, nearly detaching his fingers. Okay, so I know this is a TOTALLY different story, but I’m just saying…after reading your statement “the boy thinks he is superman” reminded me of my own family, and I immediately said, “Thank you, God, no one was following Miah!”
I will keep praying for you, your Hubby, and the boys. I know it must be frustrating at times, but your words literally light up on the screen when you guys have a good day. You’re doing a great job! Keep your chin up, darlin!
We caught our daughter right before she jumped out her 2nd story window. Thank the Lord we caught her in time…..we are in TX and there is NO snow here. We’ve had window locks on her window ever since. We bought them from Lowes or Home Depot. I don’t think she knows they are there and we sure don’t draw attention to them. I don’t know if your son would figure out how to unlock them or not, but our daughter hasn’t.
Holly, thanks for commenting. We thought of locks, but are unsure what we are allowed to do because of fire escapes etc… We are definitely looking into all our possibilities though.
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