Lysander: Yeah but you put bigger numbers together so it's okay.
I'm trying to hold onto the good moments. They're moving me off my golden child client's case and onto his older brother's case instead. He is the most aggressive child I'll have worked with and in the few months I've been with the family, I have personally seen him make death threats to instructors, his parents, his brothers. I've watched him brandish knives at instructors and I've watched him attempt to drink bleach. Punching, kicking, choking, check check check. It makes the most sense to move me over: this kid already loves me, I'm already familiar with the family dynamics, I have experience putting kids in their place, I don't take no shit, I'm a physically large person and able to physically stand up to him in a way that fewer and fewer are as he gets older. This could possibly my biggest challenge, so I'm a touch nervous but mostly excited to climb this mountain. As much as an eight year old can be a mountain.
I wore red lipstick yesterday, because yesterday was a bold day. Said aggressive older brother can cop an attitude, but is a genuinely sweet kid most of the time. When I arrived at session he said, smirking, "Hey, you know what you look like?"
"What?" I said, in my head running through a list of negatives. Clown. Weirdo. Freak. The things he's heard at home. What I expected to tumble out in an attempt to emulate his teenage brother.
"You look like a princess," he said, and wrapped his chubby eight year old arms around me.
I don't have to try very hard to hold onto moments like that.