Skip to main content

Passing Year

This year is passing fast. Doll Dragon will be starting kindergarten this year in August and Little Dragon will be going to preschool (not my decision.)  I have been a stay at home mom for three years and that job is coming to a quick halt come fall.

I thought I would have a couple more years at home with Little Dragon but his dad has decided to put him in preschool.  He believes it is 'necessary' for development for Little Dragon to make friends in preschool 'that he will keep throughout high school."  I believe that Little Dragon would do better if he had more time at home given he has a split family so he can develop strong bonds with me and his dad before school taking up a majority of his day time.

Regardless of what I want for Little Dragon he is going to preschool.  His dad said he will go to court with me if I want to fight it otherwise he will be attending preschool.  I have thought about going to court about it but we don't currently have the money to spend on court costs.
My time with Little Dragon is during the day.  His dad has him at night.  When preschool starts I will miss out on my day time with him and see him Wednesdays and every other weekend.  Of course this is a huge factor in why I want him home doing preschool with me.  That is two years of daily time I could see him that I now won't.
It is a bit selfish.  It is not going to be harmful to Little Dragon to attend preschool and he may love it.  I am not ready to send him away yet.

Things have finally settled with Doll Dragons mom.  The custody agreement has been filed through court and everyone has been respecting the schedule (a couple thousand dollars later for us.)

Jerry and I are engaged.  Our wedding is planned for October.  I have most things planned but we are not able to start putting things together.  This has been a big stress factor for me.  Hopefully now that we are not going through court we can start moving forward on wedding plans.

The fits have calmed down from Doll Dragon.  Finally.  We knew when she came back there were going to be a lot of emotions.  She has separation anxiety. She is also very bobby and hardly stops moving.  We were dealing with a fit every time she had to go in the corner. We would leave her to her fit and continue whatever we were doing.  She would spend up to 45 minutes wailing around in the corner yelling, screaming, crying, or sliding around on the floor.
I know she is doing this for attention.  We don't want her to get attention this way. We want her seeking positive attention.
She is also very strong willed.  She will test how far she can push you before you get mad.
We have learned over the past few months not to get angry.  Even when we are, if we stay calm she goes to the corner and stands quietly and still for her 5 min. time. She comes out calm and we can continue are day as if there were no break.
She has learned that going to the corner properly gets her out faster so she can go and play.  She has learned that the fits in the corner do not catch our attention it just wears her out.  As soon as she calms down in the corner we are there, giving attention for the correct behavior.
Let me tell you though this is not easy.  During her fit this week my heart was pounding and my jaw clenched. I was angry.  I get anxious when there is a lot of noise.  I think it gets on every one's nerves when someone is screaming.  But I knew if I told her to stop it would get louder and last longer.  If I asked nicely or yelled there would be no difference. There is nothing else I can do but tell her to stop.  At this age she chooses to listen or not. So I sat there on the couch with my eyes on my bible.  I did not look at her although she was staring at me waiting for me to watch her and get mad.  I sipped my coffee calmly.

These fits are more scarce but never easy to deal with.

Both kids have been fighting like crazy about who goes first and I am hearing a lot of 'it's not fair to me'.  I am not sure if this is normal or they are trying to identify the differences between families.

There are many things that I don't plan for that can come storming in the door.  It can change our whole day.  There is transition time and a lot of feelings swirling around from both kids.  I may plan for a nice day with plenty of activities and get a day that it is impossible for the kids to sit down.

It is a learning experience for me.  When to be calm or strict.  When to walk away or stay.  It is emotional for me I can't imagine the emotions of a 3 and 5 year old.

I must keep praying and seeking strength through Jesus for me and my children.






Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Painting With Squirt Guns

We did this as a Fathers Day project, but it fits in outside play perfectly.   I liked this for Fathers because it was an interactive activity for the kids to do with Jerry to celebrate him and the time they enjoy spending with him. I filled 1 gun with yellow paint and 2 guns with black paint.  The squirt guns we used were from the dollar store and had a decently big hole to pour the paint into.  Some squirt guns have itty bitty holes that make squirting paint into the gun very difficult. Taped off the canvas...and made the kids pose Then the guns were handed to the kids and dad.  Instructions were to shoot the canvas not each other. Very simple. Start squirting!   The squirting went on and on.  I refilled the guns a couple times so the activity could continue.     Jerry also took time with each Dragon to squirt with them.  With a Star Wars theme we were looking at having blac...

Teeth Craft

This craft went with our meat eater unit you can see here I was having a difficult time thinking of activities for meat eaters.  I didn't want the sole focus to be on dinosaurs because carnivores and herbivores is a way to categorize many animals today. But everything I was running into was dinosaur related.  Finally I found this craft!  Materials:    paper template of a carnivore and herbivore (I drew a hippo and t-rex head outline) page of teeth scissors glue markers Little Dragon cut out the heads and then the mouth pieces.  Then he cut out the teeth and glued them inside the mouth To finish it he drew eyes on the head and a tongue on the inside of the mouth.  Little Dragon was very excited to see the finished animals and open their mouths to look at their teeth. We wrote what the animal was on the inside This was a fun easy craft that helps identify the difference in ...

Elephant Faces

Elephant Faces (masks) We used:  Three paper plates Paint or markers Paint brushes Stapler Scissors Yarn First paint the bottom of the paper plate.  While the kids painted I cut the other paper plate in half for the ears. Using the third plate I cut out the textured part of the plate to make the trunks.   Paint (or color) the rest of the pieces.  Staple them together to make an elephant. Cut out small holes for eyes and small holes behind the ears to attach the yarn. Now that the lesson is over I have the masks hanging in the playroom.  They make a neat decoration.