"He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one." - Jesus Christ, Luke 22:36

There are times, thank you, that I don't like Casey all that much, and today was one of those times. Since the child has been getting bored with just going to the library and the park, I had thought to do something different today. I thought we'd go over to Gibson Ranch County Park, since in two weeks it'll be dark when I have Casey. This all started off fine, with the two playgrounds, bridges, walking around, the geese and ducks and fishermen. Then we got to the pumpkin patch. Since Casey will be going to one with school, I announced clearly that I was not going to buy a pumpkin. There's a haybale maze and a couple of kids were there, so Casey played tag and hide-and-seek with the kids for about half an hour. Then it was time to go back to the car.

Well! The tears! The tantrum! It's NOT FAIR! (My mistake there was to quite reasonably to ask why it wasn't fair. I should have just mirrored the distress: "You think it isn't fair." As it was, Casey has no way to verbalize why it wasn't fair. The answer was "you won't buy me a pumpkin.") Garbage cans were kicked. There was some trouble getting back to the car. "I don't LIKE you!"

We finally got back to the house and we were early enough that I thought I'd be showing the child the bat calendar I brought. We decided Casey was calm enough to come into the front seat, but the foster parents showed up at that time. I gave Mom the two Hershey kiss toys and the trick-or-treat bags I'd brought for the kids. Casey was a little abashed, I think. I'd brought something after all! Anyway, I had a little chat with the child before I left; "You may not like me, but I like you anyway." Casey waved at me as I left.

Sam occasionally got a sense of entitlement, too, but learned earlier that "no" meant "no." Casey isn't there yet, and it's driving me nuts. I don't want to be stuck with only going to the library, but it's looking that way at the moment.

Eric Raymond wrote a manifesto and Mammabear had an addendum.

ObGoe: The Next International Right.