Hard Times

We've had some very hard times at our house this week with no sign of it going away anytime soon. Lydia is really testing the boundaries and seeing how far she can push. If I turn it around and look at it from her side of it I think maybe she could be starting to feel more comfortable here and more sure that I won't stop loving her or leave her. So, unfortunately this gives her the strength to test it out to make sure it's going to hold. And boy does she have strength!

During a two-hour all out physical "tantrum" the other night, for lack of a better word, I just kept telling her over and over that I loved her, that I will always love her no matter what and that I will never leave her. Now that I think about it, maybe she kept it up for two hours just so she could hear it over and over. The next night I wasn't so calm and collected - probably because I was exhausted from all the previous episodes and behaviors - so didn't handle it as well.

Tonight, again it started up and she kept pushing and pushing. Finally, I stopped her, took both her hands, looked her right in the eyes and told her that I loved her, that I was never leaving her, that I would always love her and that she was a part of our family. I told her, "You're my daughter and you're a part of this family. In our family, kids go to bed when I say it's time for bed." Her body completely relaxed, she gave me a hug and a kiss then turned around and got herself into bed and under the covers.

Now, I'm not naive enough to think, "Hey, problem solved!" and dust off my hands but I sure can be thankful there's still not a peep coming from the other bedroom and after I take some Tylenol for my muscle aches, I'll be off to bed soon too.

I do have to end this post with a few positive anecdotes about Lydia though.

Once she gets hold of a TV program or movie she likes, she'll watch it over and over and over every time there's a chance for TV time. Now, when she watches those programs or movies, she'll call out the next line or sound effect several seconds before it happens. I have the closed-captioning turned on because I heard at a conference a million years ago that that is helpful for ELL students learning English. At first, I thought she might be reading it since it frequently gives words ahead of time. But, I soon realized that she is giving the lines or the sounds long before they even come up with the words on the screen. It's pretty funny especially when you hear it from the next room like an echo. Her favorites right now are the movie Madeline and the latest Hannah Montana episode. Oh what would we ever do without Tivo.

The other thing she's been doing for the past few weeks is laughing a big hearty laugh at something and immediately saying in a low voice, "Zatz not funny." I don't know where she picked that up but it always cracks me up because whatever it was usually WAS funny so her laughing and then saying it wasn't funny, is funny.