A trying day . . .

I have had a trying day today. I woke up early for an appointment with the dentist. I had to get everyone up and going before leaving. When I got to the dentist he said I needed two crowns and referred me someplace else to get them done. Mustafa dropped me off at his mothers while he did some things at the building site.

I had a nice visit with my mother in law. She asked me if I would please take Zakia off her hands for a while - she said she needed a break. Zakia is my 'old maid' sister in law. She can be a royal pain in the neck. I tolerate her in small doses. She drives everyone crazy with her antics. Once in a while I give my mother in law a break and have Zakia stay with us. But this time I told my mother in law that I was in no mood to deal with her, maybe another time. The poor old woman looked desperate, but really, I don't feel like babysitting a 45 year old unmarried, uneducated virgin. I have enough on my plate already.

We sent Ibrahim off to summer school. The school where he had been going to kindergarten at is having a summer program. I get rid of him for three hours a day!! Yeah!!! He came home all excited and happy. He's already memorized all the names of the kids that are attending the program. Ibrahim is really a strange boy. He will drive the teachers there crazy!

I don't know what will happen when he starts school in September. He doesn’t sit still for more than few seconds and he is always up to some kind of trouble. He did make some progress by finally learning how to ride a bicycle. Every time we would buy him a bike he was never interested in riding it - only taking it apart. And he liked to turn the bike upside down and spin the pedals and watch he wheels go round and round - he could do this for hours. It was maddening! Finally this year he decided to get on and ride. It had training wheels on it but he got out the wrench from the toolbox and removed them. I was sure he would just continue to disassemble the bike as usual, but no, this time he got on and rode with two wheels like he'd been doing it all his life.

Ibrahim will continually surprise me. Most people think he's retarded or autistic or something because he's such an odd boy, but sometimes I wonder if he might be a genius. He does things none of my other kids ever thought of doing. There's a fine line between genius and retarded. I'm just happy that I have him - even though he drives me to the brink of madness sometimes.

Mustafa is going to have Ibrahim’s hearing tested sometime soon because I have always thought he might have some kind of hearing problems - he was a late talker and he has some speak impairment. My brother and sister had to go to speech therapy when they were little; maybe it's just a hereditary thing. Anyway we found a speech therapist - a rare find here in Libya and he recommended having Ibrahim’s hearing checked before he evaluates his speech. One more thing to add to Mustafa's very long list of things to do!