exciting...
Today, when I came, the mother left me alone with the children, while she went off to do some errand.
It wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Gloria was inside the house, being tutored. I think this is her first time with a tutor. She seemed to have gotten along well with her, for which I'm glad. I don't know how often she comes, but I hope it's going to be every day, so there will be at least an hour where I won't have to deal with her.
Violet and Cecilia, along with Mark had all been sitting outside on the front porch by the neighbors house, eating supper, when I arrived.
Cecilia smiled when she saw me, and said "hi", which, considering I hadn't seen her in four days, is a good thing.
The mother left almost right away, and left me in charge of feeding the kids supper, which wasn't a big deal.
However, when Mark realized his mother was leaving, he began to run after her. I was actually pretty scared that he might run into the street, so I went after him, and caught him as he was running down the block. His mother pulled over and told him she was going to be right back, but he kept crying.
I tried to get him to come back to finish supper, but he refused to budge from his seat on the sidewalk, so I left him there.
Cecilia and Violet were fine, they ate supper nicely. It was a very hot day out, so when they finished, I told them we were going inside, which they didn't have a problem with, though they did go back outdoors soon after.
The neighbor who they were eating on their front porch gave one of her children two cookies, and asked her to give them to Mark, to sort of appease him, because he was still sitting on the sidewalk (whining a bit). However, when her daughter approached him, he was very agitated, and swiped at her to make her go away.
Gloria wasn't such a terror as she usually was, and when I told them we were playing inside, she asked for permission to eat dinner on the front porch of their house, which surprised me because she's not one to usually ask permission (must have been the new tutor or something that brought about this behavior).
When the mother came home, they were all more or less playing outside. They spent a good deal of time outside, where they played with the hose, rode their bikes, etc.
When it was time to give them a bath, things got a little hard. Every time we brought them in, they kept going back out. Gloria flat out refused to come in, and ran away from me.
Violet was actually pretty good about it, and stayed inside. Mark ran in and then ran out.
I was exhausted, so rather then fight with them to come inside, I decided to let them have their fun for a bit longer, before really getting serious. It turns out to have been a good decision, because I spent some time bonding with Violet. We sat on the couch together, and we talked about different things. Nothing deep or profound, just silly things like barbie dolls vs. horses, and which color is nicer, pink or purple.
Giving them a bath is exhausting as always, except that Cecilia joined us today.
I finally discovered why she always cries when I wash her: She wants her mother to do it.
Gloria too. When it comes to washing/brushing/fixing her hair, she only wants her mother to do it.
Even Mark, when it came time to put on pj's, he wanted his mother to do it.
Not much to report really, and I'm tired, so I'll just write down some things of note.
After she took a bath and got her hair done, I took Gloria aside and gave her a task. I told her that starting tomorrow, I want her to try and ask for things she wants, or things she doesn't want people to do. Instead of screaming and yelling and whining, I want her to ask calmly for it.
She agreed, and said she'll try, though I think she said it more to get me off her back, then to actually internalize what I say. I'm assuming this because later on, when I called her by her full name, as opposed to her nickname, she got really mad, and started yelling that that wasn't her name.
I reminded her what we spoke about, and that she wasn't doing what I asked her to, and she shrugged her shoulders.
I guess there's always tomorrow.
I may edit this later, in the event I think of something else I wanted to write down.
Otherwise, that's all I have to say for today [07.07.11].
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-
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I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, with little devils dancing on my head.
~Téa
It wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. Gloria was inside the house, being tutored. I think this is her first time with a tutor. She seemed to have gotten along well with her, for which I'm glad. I don't know how often she comes, but I hope it's going to be every day, so there will be at least an hour where I won't have to deal with her.
Violet and Cecilia, along with Mark had all been sitting outside on the front porch by the neighbors house, eating supper, when I arrived.
Cecilia smiled when she saw me, and said "hi", which, considering I hadn't seen her in four days, is a good thing.
The mother left almost right away, and left me in charge of feeding the kids supper, which wasn't a big deal.
However, when Mark realized his mother was leaving, he began to run after her. I was actually pretty scared that he might run into the street, so I went after him, and caught him as he was running down the block. His mother pulled over and told him she was going to be right back, but he kept crying.
I tried to get him to come back to finish supper, but he refused to budge from his seat on the sidewalk, so I left him there.
Cecilia and Violet were fine, they ate supper nicely. It was a very hot day out, so when they finished, I told them we were going inside, which they didn't have a problem with, though they did go back outdoors soon after.
The neighbor who they were eating on their front porch gave one of her children two cookies, and asked her to give them to Mark, to sort of appease him, because he was still sitting on the sidewalk (whining a bit). However, when her daughter approached him, he was very agitated, and swiped at her to make her go away.
Gloria wasn't such a terror as she usually was, and when I told them we were playing inside, she asked for permission to eat dinner on the front porch of their house, which surprised me because she's not one to usually ask permission (must have been the new tutor or something that brought about this behavior).
When the mother came home, they were all more or less playing outside. They spent a good deal of time outside, where they played with the hose, rode their bikes, etc.
When it was time to give them a bath, things got a little hard. Every time we brought them in, they kept going back out. Gloria flat out refused to come in, and ran away from me.
Violet was actually pretty good about it, and stayed inside. Mark ran in and then ran out.
I was exhausted, so rather then fight with them to come inside, I decided to let them have their fun for a bit longer, before really getting serious. It turns out to have been a good decision, because I spent some time bonding with Violet. We sat on the couch together, and we talked about different things. Nothing deep or profound, just silly things like barbie dolls vs. horses, and which color is nicer, pink or purple.
Giving them a bath is exhausting as always, except that Cecilia joined us today.
I finally discovered why she always cries when I wash her: She wants her mother to do it.
Gloria too. When it comes to washing/brushing/fixing her hair, she only wants her mother to do it.
Even Mark, when it came time to put on pj's, he wanted his mother to do it.
Not much to report really, and I'm tired, so I'll just write down some things of note.
After she took a bath and got her hair done, I took Gloria aside and gave her a task. I told her that starting tomorrow, I want her to try and ask for things she wants, or things she doesn't want people to do. Instead of screaming and yelling and whining, I want her to ask calmly for it.
She agreed, and said she'll try, though I think she said it more to get me off her back, then to actually internalize what I say. I'm assuming this because later on, when I called her by her full name, as opposed to her nickname, she got really mad, and started yelling that that wasn't her name.
I reminded her what we spoke about, and that she wasn't doing what I asked her to, and she shrugged her shoulders.
I guess there's always tomorrow.
I may edit this later, in the event I think of something else I wanted to write down.
Otherwise, that's all I have to say for today [07.07.11].
-
-
-
I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place, with little devils dancing on my head.
~Téa