Wow!  What a day!

It actually started around 8pm last night when I got a phone call from Xander’s speech therapist asking if she could come at 10am Monday.  Of course, I said yes, but that meant spending extra time getting things spic and span in the morning before she got here, which cut into our school time.

I woke up at 7:00am and started working.  I finally woke up Sebastian and Xander at 7:45am after I’d had my shower.  Wouldn’t you know they’d sleep in on the day that I get up before them!  Anyway, after breakfast we spent about an hour on chores.

At 9:15 we started school.  At 10am Krista, the speech therapist, arrived.  She left around 10:30 and we got started again.

We took a 15 min. break after every 3 subjects and we stopped for lunch at 12:30pm.

Around 1:30pm Ben’s mom called asking for his mailing address in Iraq.  Of course, since she wanted it I couldn’t find it anywhere!  I spend the next hour destroying my bedroom looking for it, until I finally calmed down enough to email my FRG leader and just asked her to send it again! 

We went back to work, and then there was a knock at the door!  It was UPS delivering a book.  I was happy about that, but it was just another interruption!

During the next break I checked my email and I’d received the address.  I called and spoke to Ben’s dad and gave it to him and then made sure to copy it down into my notebook.

We finally finished school around 5:30pm.  I took the boys out for dinner at Taco Bell and the we came home to watch the news and play.

At 7:30pm, I read from Sebastian’s assigned read-aloud, The Boxcar Children.  At first he wasn’t paying attention, so I stopped.  I told him how much I thought he’d enjoy it if he paid attention and started over at the beginning.  This time he really listened, and by the end of the chapter he asked me to keep reading!  He was disappointed when I said, “Tomorrow, honey!”  Gotta keep ‘em hangin’! 

All in all, it was a good day.  I just pray tomorrow we can get finished sooner!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

My day in a nutshell:

• Wake up to find Sebastian pushing the snooze button on my alarm clock… unaware of how many times he’s done this, but certain by the light shining in the window that it is much later than I had intended to wake up.
• Sebastian says, “You don’t have to get up Mama!”
• With immediate concern, I jump out of bed and find my glasses, then follow my protesting child into the living room, where I find my chalk/whiteboard easel standing in the middle of the room… the whiteboard RED with marker (not the dry-erase kind!)
• There is PAINT literally poured out onto the (BEIGE!) carpet… the brand new pad of paint paper I purchased a few weeks ago is open and the facing page is BLACK with red, yellow, green, and blue paint.
• There is paint covering Sebastian’s pants and body… there are paint-covered brushes and sponges everywhere!
• As I head into Sebastian’s bathroom to put some of this mess into the sink, I nearly step on a plastic shoebox lying in front of the bathroom door… FULL OF URINE!  When I ask Sebastian why there is pee in the box, he hesitates before saying, “Xander did it!”  A sure sign that HE did it, and not his brother… and with a little pressing, he comes clean with the truth.  Why did he pee in the box??  “I didn’t make it to the potty in time.”  The potty is 2 feet away!!

So, this is what I’ve dealt with all day. 

Disobedience.  Dishonesty.  Disrespect.  Dishonor.  Disgust.

Any advice on how to deal with this?  I mean, I’ve dealt with the “discipline” but this is obviously a spirit/attitude/heart issue and I don’t know how to teach him to change that.  How do I teach him to do “right” even when no one’s watching?  How to I make him understand that when he is destructive, it hurts me and that hurting others is wrong?  How do I teach him to obey without talking back or disrespecting me?  How do I teach him that lying and manipulation are wrong?  How do I teach him that doing something that is wrong is still wrong, even if he doesn’t get caught?  How do I teach him to be sorry he disobeyed, lied, stole, destroyed property, etc.and not just sorry he got caught?

Is this behavior/attitude because Ben is gone?  I don’t think so, since it’s been building up and escalating for over a year now.  Though, it would be easier on ME if Ben were here, just because I would have some back-up.  I feel so alone right now.  I feel like I’m fighting a battle for my son’s soul and he’s not even SIX! 

Please, tell me what to do… what to say… what to read… what to pray for… and if you feel led, please pray for me too!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Today was another GREAT DAY… (for the most part, but I’ll get to that later)!

We had Xander’s birthday party today at my mom’s house.  It was just mom, me, Xander and Sebastian, but we had a great time.  There were balloons and chocolate cake and presents… all you need for a good birthday celebration!  Xander said “birthday cake” for the first time, which was so cute!  Mom took pictures, so hopefully I’ll be able to post them one of these days!

After we got home, I got an email about the summer moon illusion that was to take place tonight.  So, I let Sebastian stay up late so we could go outside at moon rise and watch for the moon.  Unfortunately, there are too many trees in our area and it took almost an hour before we saw the moon.  By then, it wasn’t the GINORMOUS moon we were hoping to see, but it was still pretty big.  We sat around talking for another 45 minutes while we watched.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons (This looks a lot like what we saw tonight.)

We had the best conversation.  We talked about the moon and stars… about God and His Creation.  We talked about Samson (yes Samson!) because Sebastian wanted to know who the strongest man in the world was.  LOL!  We talked about
bugs and rocks and a million different things and it was so much fun.  He is so smart, and so curious about the world!

When we finally turned to head back inside, I felt a sudden panic.  There, at the top of the stairs, was Hubert (our cat)!  I asked Sebastian, “You did remember to close the door when you came out, didn’t you?”

“Umm… nope.”

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  (okay, that’s how I felt, but that’s not what I said….)

The door to our apartment had been standing wide open for an HOUR AND A HALF!  Letting out the air conditioning!  Letting in the BUGS!  (Yes, there was a giant cockroach crawling across my kitchen floor!  Luckily, it was soon dying from whatever pesticide the apartment maintenance team uses.)  I gave Sebastian a short, but stern, lecture about how important it is to always close the door when you go outside, but I couldn’t be mad at him… not after the great conversation we had.  *sigh*  So I just sent him to bed, where hopefully he’ll sleep until late tomorrow morning!

From my home to yours,
Andrea

Yesterday afternoon, I happened to be checking my email at the same time that Ben was replying to email half a world away!  It was fun because we were able to exchange a few back and forth “real time.”  I had to stop when I realized that it was closing in on dinner time.  But, a few minutes after I buckled the kids in the car to head to Logan’s Roadhouse for some steak, my phone rang.  It was Ben and I had such a great conversation with him!  Sebastian was able to talk to him too!

Ben is doing well, but he’s feeling some emotional stress.  If you could, please pray for him.  He did say that he’s been given a little more responsibility (which, if you know my husband, is a good thing… shows that his superiors have a little trust in him).  Of course, he misses his family and home tremendously, but he’s keeping busy and looking forward to coming home on R&R leave later this year.

Plans for Wednesday:

• Morning Routine
• Start laundry
• Serve breakfast
• Check email/blog/forums
• Put laundry in dryer
• Shower
• Brush hair/teeth
• Get dressed
• Fold laundry
• Kitchen chores:
• Wash dishes
• Wipe counters & stove
• Sweep floor
• Serve lunch
• Clean bathrooms:
• Clean toilets
• Mop floors
• Wipe mirrors
• Take boys to library? (Maybe tomorrow)
• Prepare & serve dinner

From my home to yours,
Andrea