Depakote: Better but not great

I'm not sure how this roller coaster will end, but the Depakote does still seem to be helping. Last night Pajama Monster poured urine into a mechanical toy firetruck and later in the evening he smeared poo into his carpet and window. I made him clean it last night so we could start fresh in the morning. Today we had a good morning and went to play at a coffee shop/play area. Fun was had by all. We came home and Peep took a nap while Pajama Monster ate lunch and played outside. All was well till I attempted to go grocery shopping. Peep started screaming and I discovered that Pajama Monster had bitten her because she was sitting too close. I removed Pajama Monster and attempted to grab the last few list items. Pajama Monster proceeded to waffle between defiantly throwing things on the floor, and contentedly walking with the cart. On the way out he threw a stack of gift cards in a nearby trash can. We went home without further incident and Pajama Monster spent the next 15 minutes in his room in time out with the door open. He was sent back to time out about 8 more times over dinner for things like throwing his fork and various defiance. The sad thing, this is still better. During a normal Pajama Monster incident there would have been much more violence both toward myself and Peep, and he would have smeared poo or vandalized something in time out. He also would have been horrible on the ride home and would have escalated steadily the entire time at the store and would currently be going out of his way to make my life unpleasant instead of playing with his sister as he is currently doing. All in all it was terrible grocery store behavior, but really, not unmanageable, certainly not compared to what I'm used to. It's not the miracle pill so far that I had hoped for, but it's still better, assuming this isn't just a mood swing that just happens to coincide with the Depakote instead of being caused by it. I just hope things don't get worse from here. There's still every possibility that the psychiatrist will increase the dose in another week, which may improve things as well. I hate to get my hopes up, but this time I think I may still be seeing a glimmer of hope. We'll see what bedtime brings.