Is it just me...

Or is Benihana a huge disappointment? I have been to quite a few nonfranchise restaurants such as this one and they all do a volcano with fire and more interactive show. Even the food at this place was nasty. The girls enjoyed the show and experience but were also sadly disappointed by the food... damn how to you make shrimp so BLAND with all of those spices at your disposal? Of course I liked the... "We like the shrimp Christine makes better" comment made at the table...haha.

So we also went to see Godspell... small intimate theater troupe production in old town glendale... was AMAZING! The girls actually loved it. I am so glad they did. We topped that off by a trip over to the "dead" zoo at Cabella's and a dinner at Cracker Barrel. They had a blast and were very well behaved the entire time with not one single meltdown.

We had a small issue with the 6 year old as we waited for the show to start and the oldest while waiting for the food to come... but overall they were not "behavior" driven but simply just hunger and being six.

Do you hold a grudge

Against bad behavior or do you brush it off and move on? It's so hard to do that sometimes. You want to do fun things, but inevitably the bad behavior starts and ruins it for all.

Of course every child in every family has that issue at one time or another. I remember many a game night ruined by a bioson temper tantrum and sore losing. Many a trip to a restaurant was also ruined by a mopey kid. (This place smells funny, I don't like this, my stomach hurts, I didn't want to come anyway)

I guess as a parent you want to enjoy fun things with your children and provide your child something to do aside from staying home all the time. In this AZ heat it is even more important to find things to do that are inside. Which usually has an additional expense associated with it. In 120 degree heat your free options are few and far between. Simple things that keep the kids busy and that they enjoy are usually off the agenda. I mean you just can't go to a park or ride a bike without fear of third degree burns or heatstroke. Heck even swimming is not an option at this high temp because the water feels like bath water and has no cooling affect.

So we plan other things...

Then comes the self-regulation issues that get in the way, as does a child's clear open defiance. Social anxiety and awkwardness take the fun out of spontaneous things as well, but planning something sometimes makes it even worse because of the anxious anticipation associated with doing something completely new.

So when the behavior leading up to an already paid for event is HORRIBLE do you really want to go? I am trying so hard to deal with it, get over it, move on, and try again. But seriously it's pretty hard when any moment now you are waiting for the other shoe to drop... could it be behind door number 1, 2, or 3?


Noobs to Foster care beware! ;-)


PS: I have started looking into a "Parenting Traumatized Children" class) I need to work on my skills! I have also read a ton of books and continue to look for information on how others deal with it.

I want to practice the "stop yelling" method but with 1 hard of hearing child it's like she begs me to yell so she can say I did and I fall for it every time.

Contrary to Popular Opinion

There are joyous days and times with these 3 and they make me laugh often. I think I surprise them with my comments at times and well they have no idea how to respond to it.

"Can I have more shrimp please?"
"No you may not, but thank you very much for asking using all your best manners."

4 shocked little faces staring back at me... "Christine are you kidding?" asks the 4th. (this is the little girl I do private duty nursing for who happened to be here today)

So why no? Because I think a slice of watermelon, 10 shrimp, along with a bowl of chicken soup was a pretty big enough meal. But yeah the way I make shrimp is awesome sauce so I appreciate the fact that you love it! But you didn't finish the rest of your meal anyway.

An hour after lunch today is their visit. Usually it's a a meal time, a la dinner or lunch time. This time it is right after lunch. So of course they are going to be starving right?

But I have refused to kowtow to the nit picking and BS... if they want something to be upset about they can bitch about the fact that the dog bit the middle girl (no broken skin remember just a bruise) but yeah then they can remove the girls to another home... oh wait they can't find one.

At this point I don't even know if I want to be stay licensed anyway.

I think he is done too

I had my doubts and knew he'd have issues and now I know for sure that this is just too much for him to handle. Since I have been here at hospital with the youngest he had been at home with the problem one who has been a big problem. She really teases the dogs, she is mean to them...you get where I am going with this? Yup dog "bite" except it wasn't the one causing the problem it was the nearby innocent bystander who jumped up, screamed and scared the shit outta the dog. He nipped at her, did not break the skin, but caused a bruise. Yup incident report and lord only knows what else. We really have to reconsider what we want to do. Rehoming is not a possibility, we can't put him down he is two, and the pound well...how fair is that?


WTF?

Girl interrupted

Call to 911 for an unexpected asthma attack by littlest. Overnight admission, zero sleep, lost day of wages for the both of us, and a rule breaker incessant biograndmother. Followed by me having to place a no information and no visitor flag on her chart with follow up calls to CPS.

Grandma who showed up with bio aunt proceeded to try and enable phone contact with bio mom,sent text pictures and even room number and information.

These parents are on court supervised visits and no contact. Grandma wonders why she is unable to get permission to transport or even to have unsupervised visits on her own she just does not get it and will never get it. It's only natural to want your child to have access to their own child, but there are serious issues that are being addressed and rules that have to be followed, even if we don't believe it happened.

Urgh!!!!

Cupcake Wars- Foster Addition

A Thank you

This is a very nice thing to get from Bioparents! It really means a lot.