January 27, 2002 Today, I found that plain. Saturday wasn't too awful, overall. I had to hurl out of the house in a snow storm to drive Russell to a boyscout outing at the local university Planetarium. Of course, getting him there, involved the usual prodding to get him dressed appropiately and the usual incessant questioning about how much snow did I think we were going to get and was it actually snowing yet and having to reassure him that yes, it was snowing about 20 bazillion times on our 40 minute drive. Then he and the severely ADHD kid with no medication sat next to each other and talked through the entire thing. Severely ADHD Kid (SAK) usually started it and compulsive Russell can't resist a conversation, so most of my planetarium experience involved "shushing" them a lot. *sigh* Then towards the end of the thing, I think I nearly died laughing when SAK said very loudly to his parents on the other end of the row,"Mom, Dad, I have to go the bathroom!" He did this while doing the "I gotta pee dance" for added effect and the parents kept telling him the movie was nearly over. I was in severe suppress smirk mode because the parents are fairly humorless and kind of weird. Here's this kid with severe problems who would benefit from medication and gets in trouble all the time and they just kind of spend so much time yelling at him that they have lost their sense of humor. They are probably Christian Scientists or something and don't believe in medication, but what a cost they pay instead -- oy! Sadly, enough, today, that's how I felt -- totally humorless in the face of Russell the Snotboy. This morning started off with him being a pest about something. I can't remember what,which means it was a stupid thing, but it just started the day into this downward spiral with him, from which none of us recovered. We had to get him ready for skiing. I made him go upstairs and get his ski stuff together before he ate breakfast because it was a good inspiration to get him to do stuff. He got everything together but the ski pants, but we had him eat and then had him hunt those down. Then he managed to get into things with Mike. I don't know what...don't care. I just heard Mike and Russell shouting at each other. I was upstairs dressing Genny and dealing with the Potting Training Princess who has to get on and off the potty about 30 times in order to fart and pee about a teaspoon into the pot before I put her into a fresh diaper, which she then pees in and removes with in the hour. Huggies used to be fine for the Princess, even with the tiniest speck of urine, but no longer. PT Princess will have nothing of the urine either in nor upon her body. In fact, PT Princess will "poopoo" in her diaper and turn around and back up, so that you may get a good whiff of her latest eau de toilet, apparently in an effort to inform you of her missed appointment with the potty throne. In fact, PT Princess would prefer to run naked nudie butt through the house. Free of the fetters of Oshkosh and Carter's, she prefers to peruse the toys of her brother's room and endure the shouts of dismay as she grabs his night vision goggles and runs buck naked through the hallway giggling. Upon, finally re-robing PT Princess, Mike came upstairs scowling. Russell yelled rudely behind him on the stairs. I asked Mike to watch Genny, so I could shower. I called Russell upstairs to me and let him know that his behavior sucked and that he had been very out of control. I reiterated the need for him to get all of his ski stuff that he'd gotten together actually on his body. He started to whine about how Mike does...and I cut him off. I told him he was not to yell at his dad and he was to be respectful and do the things he was asked. He started to argue with me and I explained that I was >< close to smacking the snot out of him and that he needed to do what I'd asked and shut up. Amazingly enough, he did. By this time, Mike was essentially huddled in our room working a puzzle with Genny, presumably because of his need to escape Russell. Over the course of three hours, Mike and I took turns yelling at Russell. I mean, how long exactly can you ground a kid before it no longer has meaning? Threatening him with a spank seemed to work for about 10-30 minutes at a time. Mike had even said Russell wasn't skiing today. I told Mike that was a bad idea, being that we'd already paid for Russell's skiing and I was not of a mind to piss away the money already spent. He agreed and expressed abject exasperation with Snotboy. Somewhere in the middle of this, I looked at Mike and said, "it's only 2 more days before counseling. Just keep that in mind and hang in there." He glowered at me. At this juncture, I had the good sense to send Mike out to get money and gas, to give him half an hour of peace without Snotboy. During this half hour, I suggested to Russell that he bring books to read on his way to the ski place because I knew Mike was >< close to smacking the snot out of him, too. Mike took Russell to his ski lessons. I was so relieved....Genny had already gone down for her nap and I was so damned glad Russell was GONE! I mean I was about dancing in the kitchen. Genny didn't take much of a nap, and certainly there was no down time for me, as I ran 4 loads of laundry, cleaned the fridge, brought in wood, hung blankets on the clothesline, folded and put away clothes, and planned my shopping trip for when PT Princess got up. PT Princess got up, snacked, and then I offered to have her pee. She went in and out and finally I got her dressed. I got her fully clothed, including her winter coat and shoes and went upstairs to grab library books and came downstairs to Genny in nothing but a shirt. Smiling and running into the bathroom, she ran in and out about 20 times while I sat on the stairs. 45 minutes later, I finally just dressed her and told her it was time to go. I ran my errands and then came home, followed within minutes by Mike and Snotboy. The snotting began and a screamfest was had by all. Russell is grounded into March I think. I am grounded into dust.
| ||||||
