It's interesting that as I look forward to the coming semester I'm feeling nervous more about my Aerobic Dance class than I am about International Management or Cost Accounting. I'm taking the class because I'm not motivated enough to regulate my own exercising and I have a major need to try and keep in shape. However, I sit here worried that I'll get into the class and find a lot of kids just out of high school and I'll be the only frumpy middle aged mother. I don't know yet if I'm worried about what others are thinking or if I'm just worried that I won't have anything in common with anyone else. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
Gabriel is back in school and seems to be enjoying himself. Unfortunately we're already starting to see the effects of peer pressure. Recently we've been hearing new words (most are harmless, but Dan came down really hard on "Crud" for some reason), seeing new behaviors (play fighting and burping randomly throughout the day), and feeling new emotions (he's heartbroken over the smallest thing that he thinks his friends might be experiencing that he isn't and learning that mom and dad are the meanest people in the world). When asked about the new behaviors and words we frequently hear "But (insert name here) does it..." What floors the both of us is the recent excalation of temper tantrums when we say "no". Based on his reaction you'd think he's never heard it before! This word is nothing new in our household and I'd like to think that we don't use it all the time. In fact, it seems to get a worse reaction when it happens after we say "yes" to something else. Listening to the radio the other day someone called Dr. Brown and asked about temper tantrums in her 9-year-old and the advice was to ignore it because giving in just reenforced the idea that it works. We don't give in, yet the behavior continues.... On the positive, I've been hearing "Yes, mama" a lot more when I ask him to do something. Maybe I'm just blowing things out of proportion.
Valerie started preschool this past week and seems to be enjoying it. I'm a little concerned about her "active imagination" when she gets in the car and tells me that the other kids are hitting and teasing her but that I shouldn't ask the teacher (a sure sign that she doesn't want me to verify the information that she knows is false). I just hope that being around other kids and other responsible adults will give her a reason to share truthfully with others. I can't help but think that if this continues it might be a repeat of "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen" where the girl tells lie after lie to try and impress people. She's doing well with the potty training and I would even say that she's finished at this point. The occasional accident still happens, but she's waking up with dry underwear every morning, unlike her brother who still has problems in that area.
All around, we're still here and we're still moving on. I guess it just goes to show that the more things change the more they stay the same.
5 months ago
