Comatose this morning, but thank god it was Friday. Naturally Mags got me started when the clothes
she put in the dryer last night were still wet this morning. The dryer is broken?? NOW??!!
On a Friday? On HALLOWEEN??? But it turns out she only set the dryer to
fluff. No questions from Ethan, which surprised me,
and he got right to chopping parsley, onions, whipping up eggs, pouring olive
oil in the pan…then made the best fluffy omelets. Then Maggie followed suit and made her own
delicious, fluffy omelet. My dad woulda
been so proud.Headed to work with a beautiful forecast of rain ahead: a dark, stormy, Halloween night, but first…the grindstone. It was a good day, a little acting up, but in c102, that’s to be expected. We finished up Hotel Rwanda – what a beautiful country, and what horrific tragedy. I have a book about the genocide, need to finish reading it (it was too much).
Picked up the kids, dropped off Mags at her friend’s house
and then... It Began. He wanted to go hang
out with his friends – because everybody else was going out tonight, and I don’t
understand, and I’m a crappy parent, and no wonder my mom hates me, and the brain damage
from the car accident must have been very bad…. and, and, and. I told him firmly that he may not disrespect me, The words didn’t really bother me…I remember (after my head injury, of course) saying
the most hateful words I could to my parents.
But I was 16/17, I had just experienced a traumatic brain injury.
Ethan is just pissed because he isn’t getting his way and I’m not a
yeller. In fact, this entire time, I spoke as calmly (calmer, actually) as if we were talking about whole versus 2% milk. I just gave him the bottom line - you can't change what you've been doing for months in 2 days and you have to show me your efforts. I went to pick up a few things
for our evening – much to his chagrin. I
went to video stores (both closed and out of business) trying to find The
Pacific mini-series. Nothing. So, we headed home…
…Where I started cooking, and
ate. Ethan also came out of his room and
announced to me he wanted to go meet said friends down the street. I said Nope.
He questioned what else could I do that I wasn’t already doing. I said it would get a lot worse. He said there was nothing more I could do,
headed out and said, “See ya later!” in quite a snarky tone. And thus, the game continues. I called the friend Ethan was to meet, let the boy know Ethan had diobeyed me and left without permission and he was grounded now and could not hang out. Then I called L and let him know what was going
on…. After 15 minutes, when Ethan returned, as
I was talking to my work partner, asking her about juvenile hall. Then I called L back and let him know (loudly) about the juvenile hall options
the next time E chooses not to listen. Then I walked into Ethan’s room and let him
know what would take place and that his choices will change now. Not a word from him. I understand now what my mom meant when she
said how difficult it was to tell your
kids no and to discipline them. I also
understand her frustration and concern when I acted like I did. So here is my karma. I’ve been waiting for you….
And so…a Friday night alone, with
an angry, frustrated boy in his room. I’ve
been watching Dexter – decided to re-start at season 1 since I never got past
season 3. I’m feeling a great deal of pain,
mostly because I ate too much cranberry crunch, but if I drink some hot lemon
water, I might feel better. Not one trick-or-treater, but a hell of a
nightmare. Thank god I’ve wet my teeth
with this behavior daily in C102.
Pictures: A fantastically delicious ghost doughnut Swerner brought to C102; The glorious trees at work....
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