My kids and notes 9.2
April 16, 2024
Life with JB
Making “friends” for JB (adult friends with the parents because I need to vet them before I let my kid go play with their kid) is exhausting. The good ones keep moving away!
It’s been three families now and I’m starting to feel a little cursed. I can only imagine how JB’s feeling.
What’s good is the families do want to keep in touch at least for the kids’ sake. When they can, they let us know when they’re back in town to visit friends and family, so the kids get to see each other for a bit and they love it so much and it’s like they never separated. But boy do I feel for JB’s feeling of separation and frustration with the kids who remain. Most of them are drama seeking and annoying and fight with JB constantly. That was never an issue with the 3 kids they really liked, who then moved away.
JB had their eye exam this year and their eyesight is officially worse than mine. I know it’s irrational but this makes me feel like a total failure of a parent. You know, for failing to pass on my good eyesight genes. And then not for getting them outside long enough to hold off their worsening eyesight.
Life with Smol Acrobat
Throw the confetti and break out the cake, this kid is suddenly interested in using the toilet!!
All credit to PiC for consistently trying and encouraging, for some reason I have been utterly awful at encouraging them to use the toilet. I didn’t want it to become a stubbornness power struggle so I just stopped. They have gone five days in a row with no wet overnight diaper! They even used the toilet at school! They won’t be the only kindergarten kid in diapers!! Probably!
But having potty training and all the requisite accidents happening at the same time as having to replace the dead washer is not great timing. Also (TMI) not great, as soon as they switched to underwear, they also (coincidentally?) stopped pooping regularly. They’re going 4 days at a stretch. We’re trying to figure that out.
Pupdate
Not good. She’s been very very slowly responding to the combination of meds for her autoimmune problem. We’ve had to add incontinence meds, which work thankfully, so she’s on 3 medications twice a day. A big jump up from last year’s zero medications.
Then we had to do the emergency vet run because she had tons of blood in her urine along with a day of diarrhea and it could have been related to the autoimmune problem OR just a UTI. Thankfully it was just a terrible UTI that can be treated with antibiotics. Then we had a morning of vomiting so I got to worry about whether her mass had grown and caused an obstruction or if it’s some OTHER problem entirely. Luckily the vet tech reminded me that the antibiotics for the UTI are strong enough to upset a stomach that’s already on 3 other medications. We’re still recovering from that week of antibiotics. She’s losing weight, has very little appetite, has been panting with discomfort so I had to add Famotidine to her pharmaceutical regimen. It helped but this is all very rough. And too soon. She’s only 12. She needs at least 5 more years with us, but not if she’s miserable the whole time.
Her balance for this year so far: $5500.
Also, you know what’s a dangerous game to play? Leaving the dog toothpaste next to the human toothpaste. That chicken flavor is going to be a terrible surprise for someone someday. If there’s any justice, it’ll be me. Because I’m the one who keeps forgetting to move it.
Precious Moments
SA: I’m not four! I’m free! When I’m gonna turn five and den four, den I’m gonna be five and four after way-ter (later).
It’s tortured, but the logic still works?
*****
Smol Acrobat: If I eat my banana, den when I get to my home, I will get de spicy chips and I will eat dem ALL. When I get my spicy chips, you can have some ok? You an me will eat da spicy chips ALL. Wee will not have any wif you n me betuz we will eat dem ALL. OTAY mommy?
*****
Me: GRRRR. I’m so annoyed at myself. (For not thinking about ordering dinner for pick up until we were already in the car driving.)
JB: why? You already do so much.
Me: 👀
*****
Smol Acrobat working through the rules of “only Momma can open that box on the shelf”: Only you can get de box? Not me? I’m not too big anymore? But I’m growing up.
*****
Smol Acrobat to PiC, trying to figure out breakfast: I used my words AND my talking words!
*****
Opposite day
Me after nearly getting my butt stuck on a kid’s stepstool: NOPE I don’t fit on that stool.
Smol Acrobat: you’re too big?
Me: yep, I’m too big to sit there.
Smol Acrobat: it’s ok. You’re still growing up still.
Listen to JB.
Also, yes, it is illogical to blame yourself for something that is genetic. What’s important is that JB got glasses early!
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…RBOChores and money
It’s a shame that knowing something is irrational/illogical doesn’t automatically stop the thing! I’m working on it at least.
It doesn’t, but sometimes repetition and hearing things from multiple people does help…
nicoleandmaggie recently posted…RBOCareer (and also Captcha and Candy)
That does, actually! That helped me a lot with the process of cutting off my dad.
We had an annoying drama seeing kid that is now a good friend of my kid’s. I will just say, he did outgrow this phase in middle school once he learned that it wasn’t the best way to get attention. (He was modeling the behavior of an older sibling and at some point realized it’s not a good way to be). I was also fine telling him that if he picks fights at my house, he will stop getting invited and he did learn. Don’t lose hope on the friend front.
Thank you for this! It’s so helpful to have a longer perspective alongside our immediate experience.