On the bright side...

... of the whole dog snapping at Brian episode...

Brian was quietly, but deeply upset. I understand how it would be disturbing from his perspective. Though the dog did not even nip him, total contact amounting to one dog tooth hitting his cheek bone, it still must have been very frightening having that open dog mouth coming towards his face. Anyway, he was upset, and I gave him some comfort. We sat in the big chair and talked about what steps we needed to take to make sure it didn't happen again. After a while I told him that he really had to go do his homework. He left and was back in the living room ten minutes later.

He looked panicked and between gasps said, "I'm ... having a ... really bad ... anxiety ... attack, Mom. ... What ... should I do?"

I thought about some techniques I got right here on this very blog and said, "Well, I hear that sometimes it helps to look around and find 10 things you can see, then 10 things you can hear, and then ten thing you can feel. Then find 9 of everything. Just keep going until you feel better."

Then I turned my attention back to my computer, upon which I am sure I was doing something very important. I glanced over every now and then and watched his eyes darting around the room. I'm not sure how long he sat there, but it was less than 10 minutes. When he was done he got up, walked into his bedroom and practiced his trombone.

Those of you who understand the relationship of breath control to anxiety attacks and trombone playing will be suitably impressed.

I was.