The Potty

Patches has managed to drag sympathy from her very trained teachers. The teacher sent home a note saying they were going to get a book from the library and just send it home. She also needs someone to read with her nightly.

I do not allow my children to check out books from the school library if they have lost or intentionally destroyed more than 2 books from them. She has done just that. All of my children are REQUIRED BY ME to read 30 minutes nightly. She flat out refuses. Some of my other poor readers join together to read together and listen to each other. She hunkers down in her top bunk bed and growls when you approach her claiming she is too tired. I have tried to move it to right after school only to be attacked physically. I backed off after 2.5 yrs and told her that she has a right to remain on a 1st grade level. I was sad for her but I will not and can not force her to make any effort she doesn't want to. I still work very hard to find ways to engage her but have failed in that area.

She also lost her very expensive mandatory P.E. clothes. She waited until bed time and began crying that no one at school would help her find them. I made some suggestions but refused to be sucked in. She tried to blame me but I put my foot down. I wasn't there and she is in middle school, she is the ONLY person responsible for her clothes.

My son had a lot of work to do to make up for his crap the night before. Since the kids had to run through their chores when he ran b/c I feared I would have to call the police. On a side note, we "run through our chores" 3-6 times a day. It means to pick up your area. It takes mere minutes and I would hate for anyone, much less police, to see our chaos. It looks bad fast but if you look closely, you can see under their toys and shoes the carpet is vacuumed and the counters are cleaned daily. Back to him, he was required to do this for each child after school. He made sure it took him ALL afternoon and past dinner. He refused to do his HW and shower. Of course, it will be seen as though I failed somehow by the teacher. I am getting pretty irritated lately by the secret insanity that he has going on. Let people see it is him and not me. I know, they won't.

I had a lovely morning and early afternoon with Gia and Kiera. We purchased Kiera a potty. She is still a bit young but I am hoping she transfers her obsession to her own potty instead of when I go. She must ask me if I have to go 50 times a day. She has taken to holding her diapered crotch mimicking the other kids and screaming "Pee! Potty! Pee! Potty!" as loud as she can both in public and at home. It is really funny. When I try to use the restroom, she follows me. She will scream outside the door, "Help! Potty! Help! Potty!" if I don't let her in. If I let her in, she gets me the tp, tries to look between my legs to see the pee, flushes it numerous times while I am on it, and even tries to climb on me to go herself. It is no longer funny. I have to sneak away to the restroom.

So we bring this potty home and she LOVES it. She spent her entire afternoon on it. I am not kidding. Her diaper was on and off and on and off. She stole panties from the big kids and tried to wear them, both legs into one hole and held them on. She peed once in the potty and you would have thought it was liquid gold. She tried to dip her hands in it and hug it. It was almost too much and I considered hiding it. I mean, I really don't mind diapers until college. At some point, she could change them herself.