The Queen's Rambles

Not much going on here today. Just your regular old day. Boring boring boring.

I did get out and have lunch with my friend while Erik was in preschool so that was nice. I need to do that more often, but I hate to bug her since she works from home. Only I don’t think she actually is that motivated to work so maybe I should “bug” her more often. I feel really bad for her right now. This is the friend who has a kid that won’t eat. They’ve been following the doctor’s orders and giving him a variety of food and telling him to either eat it or not eat it, but he’ll be hungry if he doesn’t eat it. I think the kid is more stubborn than the doctor can possibly imagine. He won’t even eat his old standbys now. She said he refused any food at all all weekend–he only drank water. He’s gaunt and lethargic and they don’t know what to do. He finally ate a piece of bread on Monday, but then it was back to the hunger strike. And it’s not like they are trying to feed him anything crazy! They are offering him new foods, but they always make sure to give him something that he’s eaten in the past. I just feel bad for her because it feels like she can’t win. They are going to take him to a counselor ASAP because they need help. I hope the counselor is able to break through. I’m worried they’re going to have to go to the hospital and get him an IV or something.

Erik is certainly no angel, but at least we don’t have any serious concerns about him. Maybe my friend needs to call in the SuperNanny.

In fact, I was able to laugh my ass off when he had a gigantic meltdown this afternoon. He is addicted to TV and we are big ol’ meanies and turn it off more than he would like. We let him watch way more than is acceptable, but sometimes life is just conducive to television watching.

Mike was home and played the part of the bad guy. I had way too much fun standing in the kitchen, watching Erik screaming at the top of his lungs, turning bright red, threatening Mike with never speaking to him again. It was nice not to be on the receiving end for once. No wonder I’m so tired all the time. Dealing with a lunatic is exhausting. I hope this phase ends soon. I have a three fold plan when it comes to dealing with the tantrums. First, I give some empathy to try to defuse the situation, then I just ignore him. When it’s gone on long enough I try to distract him with something or else send him to another room to get away from me. It works, I guess, but it is still ridiculous. I think it is good for him to be able to safely express his frustration and anger. I don’t want him to learn to hold it all in. I guess this is just a part of learning to regulate his emotions. Fun times.

I spent a good half hour trying to get the headphones for the back of the van to work. I had to stop at Honda to pick up the new plates anyway, so I asked my salesman to help me. He spent a long time on the problem as well. We pushed every button. We both read the book. Nothing was working. I was extremely frustrating.

Guess what?

The headphones only work in the back seat. We were sitting in the front seat, trying to adjust things. Duh! You’d think the instruction booklet would say something about that. Have they never heard of a trouble shooting guide?