Sometimes the stress is just too much

School will be out for the summer in just a couple of weeks and I still have no one to keep Chelsea. There are no day care centers in my area, and any within driving distance won't take her because of her chronological age. Meanwhile, my husband reminds me that he can't take care of her all day anymore, my son (her father) says he would have to adjust his work hours and he just doesn't think he can do that. I "adjusted" my entire life to accommodate this situation but no one else seems to want to budge. I have no idea what to do.

Problem solved....for the moment

The Depo shots failed miserably. What was supposed to solve a problem actually made it ten times worse. Instead of having to deal with the "problem" for five days a month, we had to deal with it every day for six months. God bless her doctor, she put her on birth control pills. Not only has the problem stopped, but Chelsea's mood has greatly improved. She will take the pills continuously for three months, then off one week, then repeat. She is getting an interesting case of acne, but that's easier to deal with than the other problem! Hooray!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms out there!

A Set-back

The other day I found myself thinking that Chelsea had been pretty well-behaved lately. No episodes of incontinence, no eating of toys, no pulling the hair out of her dolls, nothing out of the ordinary for any kid. I met with her teacher a couple of days ago and she told me how much she had matured and how much better her behavior had been lately. Right about the time I started feeling pretty good about seeing results of our hard work...major backslide! I got some pudding out to put her pill in. After she took her pill, a customer needed taken care of (we own a greenhouse). I left the pudding sitting out on the counter. When I came back, she had eaten it with her hands like some kind of feral creature. She knows that she is not to touch food on the counter without asking. I won't go into the places she puts her hands, but I don't want them in food I'm planning to eat. Well, fairly minor transgression, so I just scolded her and reminded her of the rule. She pouted for a minute, then went back to watching a movie. A little while later, I gave her a plate of ravioli for supper. Another customer wanders in and I go out to tend to them. About 15 minutes later I went back into the house to find my while dog's neck encircled in spaghetti sauce. Chelsea has hurt our dogs before, and we have a solid rule about touching the dogs without an adult in the room. I suppose I needed a rule specific to choking the dogs. Needless to say, I was furious...and Chelsea is grounded. I don't think it will ever really get better, it just abates for awhile and then comes back with a vengeance.