Changes

Change is hard. Not very many people actually embrace change. The unknown is scary. I've seen it over and over again, at work, in society and with my family. My daughter used to freak out before every visit to her dad's house. Not because she didn't want to go, but because it was a change of her routine. When a school gets a new principle, both the staff and the parents have feelings of anxiety. They all wonder if they will be able to work with the new administrator.
Now, imagine that anxiety multiplied and amplified. That's our Donny. He has always done best with consistent routines. We first realized how bad the anxiety was the May he was in Kindergarten. Around the middle of May, we noticed he was playing with his hair. He would take a small amount and rub his fingers together. Then we noticed that he was starting to get little bald spots.We went to see the pediatrician. He called it, trichotillamania. It is a manifestation from the anxiety and the OCD. My hubby and I thought we were smart, so we got his hair buzzed short enough that he couldn't grab any of the hair. That's when we learned that people with Trich will then pull whatever hairs on their body that they can, eyelashes and eye brows for example. Donny looked a little unusual without eyebrows. The good news is, they grow back. During the summer, he did well, until we started the back to school stuff, then he started picking again. We started having a pattern, every May and August he would pick due to the anticipation of the upcoming changes in his life.
This fall has been a particularly difficult for Donny. He's going from elementary school to Junior High, but not the Junior High that his older siblings had gone to. Plus, with everything that has gone on this last year, he's even more scared to go to school. He's afraid of what could happen. School starts on Monday. We are really hoping that within a few days his anxiety will settle down and he will adjust to his new routine. I am very proud of Donny though. As anxious as he is, he has controlled the urge to pick his hair. It looks like he's actually going to go to school with a full head of hair. Yeah Donny!