Saturday, February 24, 2007

Confidential

(I'm probably not supposed to share this so don't say anything, 'kay?)

Evidence your grade schooler has been exposed to way too much sexual information:

1 - "So where'd you get all that hair mom?" she asks in this really weird tone. I looked at her and knew exactly where her mind was but simply replied I had cleaned off the vacuum roller and through away the wad of string and hair into my bedroom trash. Then, because I'm never one to let a sleeping dog lie, I say "What did you think? I plucked out all the hair off my privates and threw it in the trash?" Her eyes got huge and she exclaimed "How'd you know that's what I was thinking?!?!"


2 - On the subject of weekend respite (two days with another licensed foster family so the foster mom can get some rest!) "You are going to respite. It's kind of like I get a date with myself." Her take on the subject? "What? Are you just going to turn into a lesbian and suck on your own boobs? (pause) Do you do that, Mom? Suck on your own boobs?"


Thus we have two rules in our family. My sex life is my own business as is what I do or don't do with my body. And I don't discuss either with my small daughter!

Vacation

The family Disney vacation has expanded to include the other set of grandparents and possibly the sister-in-law and her husband as well. Anyone else like to join us?

=-)

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Portrait


Photo of me by AV. She says I look like Selena. Nice compliment! =-)

Things of Note

1 - I wore shorts last weekend! And we went bike riding yesterday! Love early springtime in the desert!

2 - My friend, also a single foster mother, is in deep trouble. She spanked her very misbehaving 11 year old foster son. A huge no-no. She reported on herself and all that. She's been asking for respite for several weeks, she's had a 100 degree fever all week and her foster son is in trouble every day in school. I understand, but you can't do that and how do I help support her? I hate to think of the two foster sons getting moved because they're in the pre-adoption phase. It's just... you can't do that!

3 - I'm doing online training at home today. Kindof cool but the pace of training is pretty slow and I'm bored! (so I blog)

4 - AV got beat up at school!! I'm still getting the details from the school's investigation. AV walked from her classroom door (outdoors) to another 3rd grade door to wait for a friend. A female middle schooler was waiting at the door for her younger brother. The middle school girl asked AV what she was doing there. AV said she knew her brother (what was actually said is a bit murkey at this point). For some reason the girl got mad and kicked AV in the legs and pushed her to the ground. When I saw AV at childcare right after school, she was limping and still very teary. She's pretty upset.

Here's the thing though. AV is now scared of everything. If I try to sympathize, her emotions escalate to near hysteria. When I try to remain detached, her feelings get hurt that I don't understand and I'm not helping her. Grrrr. Trying to be a good mother is hard work!

5 - Did my taxes and I'm getting a refund in spite of cashing out an IRA. yeah! Head of household and additional dependent deductions are very nice!

6 - We're planning a family vacation in Jan 08 and I think it might actually happen! Grandma and Grandpa, my brother and his wife and two girls, and AV and I. 4 days on a Disney cruise ship and 3 days at Disney world. Yeah!

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Weekends

I'm beginning to hate weekends. All her behavior issues seem to come to a head on the weekends. Is it me?

Can you tell I'm just blogging in the midst of stress? She is currently scrubbing floors as a consequence for behavior. All she had to do was make her bed. This is a simple thing. Instead, she straightened the blanket hanging off the top bunk and currently serving as her clubhouse, to cover up the unmade bed. I told her that was lying. She got mad, slammed the door, etc.

I later told her lunch was ready when her bed was made. she came out of her room royally pissed off and talking back. I told her to go to her room to calm down and then come back. She litterally looked at me and yelled "No!". It's probably a good thing that we're not allowed to touch kids since a swat on the behind seemed quite appropriate at that moment.

Anyway, she continued to refuse to go to her room, including the famous "Make me!". I put lunch away. She eventually went to her room, came out cheerful and had lunch. So now she's scrubbing three floors for the three times she was defiant and disobedient. Oi!

I really hope this actually leads to a behavior change. A clean house is nice and all but I'd much rather have dirty floors and less stress!!!!