July 24, 2003 - 8:44 p.m.

Enough With The Attitude!

The rain continued today, as did the stressful nature of my week. It's a really good thing that both the weather and the childrens' behavior improved this afternoon, or I fear a visit from DSS or the homicide squad would have followed upon my simultaneous loss of patience, temper, and sanity. For much of the day I had to strain to keep myself in check. That's how much the kids were driving me nuts!

The morning was spent with the girls' gymnastics class, a dentist appointment for M, and grocery shopping. None was particularly fun, especially since B would not stop complaining about having to wait at the dentist, M got run into with the mini shopping cart at the store, and H felt the need to dictate where everything should go in the cart, the little Hitler.

In the afternoon the sun actually came out, so the kids threw on some grubby clothes and headed outside for some good old-fashioned child labor. Their dad is putting in a patio and dug up an approximately 6x12 section of the yard last weekend. the area was full of rocks large and small, so he told the kids they could dig them all up and make a pile in the woods. They proceeded to spend the most harmonious couple of hours of the entire week with trowel and shovel and dirty little hands. They had a blast, and barely needed me. Except for when B threw a rock at his older sister for picking up a stone he had his eye on and when H insisted I should keep her siblings from watching me dump the second wheelbarrow load of rocks since she had been in the bathroom and had missed the first dump. Oy. I am so glad the week is almost over!

I know I complain mostly about B here, but lately, even with the nap adjustment, the oldest has been nearly as aggravating. H is a very smart kid, but when she isn't getting what she wants she ceases to think or listen. She'll ask, "why?" even after I have explained my reasons for whatever I am doing or asking her to do. She insists on things being "fair" (as with the aforementioned wheelbarrow incident) if it benfits her, but will rail against the same philosophy if the tables are turned. In addition, she constantly second guesses me, which over time has gotten really annoying. It's great that she is independent enough to not take every command at face value, but she takes it too far. For instance, today I warned her about licking the lid of a pop top can of peaches, and she replied with, "But I do it all the time and I've never gotten hurt before." Or if I warn or remind her about something, like not stepping in puddles or something like that, she'll get all obnoxiously defensive and whine, "I'm not!" Similarly I am frequently greeted with the classic, "I know!", and "okay, okay, okay!" after the umpteenth repition of my request. I am seriously contemplating a sort of demerit system to get her to treat me and her siblings with more respect. I think we could give her a point for each obnoxious response and revoke privileges like computer and TV time, playdates, etc when she reaches a certain level of points. If anyone has any other suggestions for instilling common courtesy and respect in an 8 year-old, please let me know!

today's project: getting some fresh air for a change.

musing about: the fair weather forecast for the weekend.

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