Home Alone

I'll admit last week was ROUGH. Nathan left for a business trip to Boston at 4 a.m. on Sunday morning, had a flight cancellation on Wednesday and arrived back home on Thursday. Despite my best efforts to wear Sasha out, he continued to act out all week.

The EI social worker stopped by on Tuesday to do her evaluation of need for services. Hmmm ... we 'passed'. When you think your child is acting out and you think it's because of a new sibling, it's nice to have someone come in, witness the behavior and say, "yes, he is clearly acting out." I wasn't imagining the bad behavior or expecting too much from my three year old son. No, he was doing things he wasn't supposed to and he was doing them to try to get to me. I have to admit that he's brilliant because it was TOTALLY working!

The social worker was able to witness one of Sasha's challenging moments and provided some good tips for me to try. She suggested that I add a morning 'fun time' while Mia naps that's just time for Sasha and I to play a game, or trains or whatever he wants. We had been using this time to do his 'homework' so adding in a purely fun element was fine. We talked about our current schedule - breakfast, play time, Mia nap time, lunch, front yard play, nap time, pool time, dinner, play, bed time. I get tired just thinking about it! She also had some suggestions for improving time outs which I've been working on this week.

Saturday we all headed to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Sasha has been eating out for a year and a half now. We feel that taking our children out is the only way to build their dining out skills. Sasha is usually pretty good. Not anymore! He sat next to Dad (mistake 1). I helped Mia get situated and she is a pro at eating pancakes and little sausages. Sasha started whining about Mama hug so he crawled through the middle of the table into my lap for a hug. Hug. "Go back and eat your breakfast, please". Hug tighter. "Sasha, you need to go eat". "NooooOOOOo, I want to stay with Mama." I start feeding him my breakfast to get some food into him. Now, Nathan has little patience for such silliness. So, Sasha was placed back in his chair. He started crying or more like shrieking with tears coming down his face. He was given three warnings and then was taken the car for a time out. Ugh .. not a good Saturday morning breakfast experience.

The photo above was taken when I asked Sasha to put his arm around his sister for a photo op. Head lock was not what I nor Mia was going for. Ah, big brothers ...

We made artichokes for dinner, a common ingredient at our house, and Sasha wanted his own. He likes artichokes but is challenged by how much pressure you need to actually exert in order to get the yummy bits off the leaves. He didn't end up eating much but he had a good time. He especially likes the sauce.

This is our version of a water slide. While Sasha had a blast, you haven't missed the photos of Mia. She preferred to hang out on the deck in her bikini and dance to the music. You'll see her 'jazz hands' that she uses when she dances about. Cute.

And, almost as much fun as dressing Blake in rabbits ears, is 'getting' Sasha with the hose. He, of course, LOVES it! Below, he's ready for Six Flags any time now.

We had purchased some 'fireworks' so Sasha had fun seeing the ground display.

So, we know that things will sort themselves out eventually. Mia is doing really well and adjusting to her new life wonderfully. She and Blake are TOO cute together. I'll try to capture some of t

heir exchanges in another blog.

We had our first month visit from Nikki, our social worker for Mia's adoption (Illinois state requirement), today. She is so nice. She showed up and I had no idea we had an appointment. Fortunately, everyone was dressed and ready to go (my office products have been down for a couple of weeks and my Outlook has been down since before Russia. Without my calendar pop-up reminders, I'm lost!). She has two adopted children as well and cautioned that it would take several months for everyone to find their 'normal' again. SEVERAL months!?!?!? UGH. Hopefully we start transitioning into better times though .. even slightly better would be great.

Oh, and as if the several months prediction wasn't bad, my good friend Holly wrote to me that her son was challenging at three and completely volatile at four and they had to walk on egg shells the whole year. YIKES! Another year and a half of this but worse???? I may be seeking refuge at one of your houses if that happens!

Tomorrow Sasha starts his gymnastics class. I'm trying to add some things in that only 'big boys' get to do. Tomorrow is also Sasha's Gotcha Day. Wow ... two years home with our son. Unbelievable.