Parent Shopping

Tonight was a little unnerving.
I had scouts (I'm the leader of the Wolves) so a friend kindly watched my currently fatherless kids.
My friend said during scouts Ryah was asking and asking to go where I was (this is a VERY good thing). But when scouts was over and they got to me, she only wanted to go home with my friend.
Ok. We have been dealing with these attachment issues in Ryah ever since we came home and she has come a LOOOOOOONG way. For the most part she has stopped going up to COMPLETE strangers and asking to be picked up. She has started asking me if she can take something offered by someone else, or sit on someone else's lap. She has even shown some indications of stranger anxiety.
But tonight was a wakeup call.
She insisted she really wanted to go to my friend's house. I guess I think I handled it ok. I just told her that "No, Ryah needs to go to Ryah's house." But I guess I was getting a little too "comfort zone" about how she is doing, because I thought she was coming along a lot more than that. I know, "three steps forward, two steps back" and all. But somehow at this late hour, with my husband gone (for 1 more week, yeah, I made it through two) it is hard to see that.
I guess I need to go to bed.

Baby birds and a sunset

Remember this?

It is now this...I tried to get a pictures of the mother who would flew to the top of our magnolia tree (which is dying :( ). But everytime I took the camera outside she would hop away through the weeds. And you know my weeds, an elephant could hop away through them and not be spotted.

Oh, and the disclaimer: No birds were harmed during the taking of this picture. It was taken with a really LOOOOOONG lens.

Last night's sunset

People don't really believe me

That the girls throw fits. They are so well behaved whenever anyone sees them that people have a hard time believing how out of control that they can get.

Here is an example:

Last night one of them (name changed to protect the... well, you know) who was doing her chore, decided that she didn't want to do her chore. I guess it felt like she wasn't getting anywhere becasue people kept putting dirty dishes in the sink (she was kitchen). To be fair I think we are all tired.... and hot. So she threw herself down banging the floor with her fists and screaming, among other things, "I want to go back to Ukraine." We have learned that the best thing to do when they are that out of control is to just be calm and roll with the punches---- sometimes literally. So I said, "I'm sorry you feel that way."

She then went up stairs tore through her room and the laundry room trying to find all her things and packed them in her suitcase. She told everyone in earshot that she was going to go down to the neighbor's house, they would take her in. (They wouldn't have been home, they have one child-- in day care and they both work until late) She then didn't even get everything packed or the suitcase even closed and just ran out the door. She stood out by the road for 20 minutes walking back and forth. Then she came back in presumably to get her suitcase. I got up, walked over to her, took her gently by the hand, sat down with her and rocked her all the while assuring her that I didn't want her to leave and that I loved her. She started crying and then subsequently calmed herself down. I rocked her for about 1/2 hour longer until she wanted to get up.

Then she went on her merry way as if nothing happened.

Wish I could say the same for me. These fits are hard on me and are going to turn me gray before too long. Luckily, they are getting to be infrequent.

On a lighter note:

We have a good chunk of our garden in and half the strawberries. All the kids can't wait until we get strawberries.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment

I've been playing with Photoshop and discovered this pencil action. In case you can't tell... it is Kristina.

Ryah and Elijah get along pretty well but they also get on each other's nerves. This is one of their finer moments.

While we were planting garden Elijah caught rollie pollies. He had a lot more than this and was able to keep them all in his hand.

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