The Queen's Rambles

I’m sure you’re all dying to know whether we are alive or not. The smell has decreased significantly, but it is still there. The smell of burning is gone, and now it just smells like some kind of paint or chemical. I had my firefighter neighbor come over and sniff it tonight. He said it didn’t smell electrical at all, but suggested we clean out the dryer vent. We’ve been meaning to do that since we moved here, but kept putting it off. I have an appointment to have it done on Wed morning. I hope that solves the problem. I just really don’t understand what is going on.

I also took down the light fixture and found that the lining was all messed up. It had a spongy lining with an adhesive backing. It had been messed up and part of the adhesive backing was exposed and clearly old and crinkly. I don’t know. If the dryer vent cleaning doesn’t help, I’ll call an electrician. I no longer feel like we’re on the verge of a tragic death. *knock on wood*

In other wonderful and exciting news, my son came home with a bad note today. He was supposed to bring it home last Wednesday. He had to move his card to orange because he wasn’t listening. He had to eat lunch on the stage (where they put troublemakers) and he missed recess. He also had to write a note home for me and Mike.

Except he never brought it home.

Today he came in and told me I wasn’t allowed to look in his folder. As if that was happening. He was totally freaked out and tried to fight me for it.

In addition to the offense last week, he specifically did not bring the note home even though he was told he had to bring it home. He only brought it home when his teacher told him she was going to call me about it. Then he told me the teacher was lying about everything.

I don’t know what to do with this child. He has been crazy the past two weeks. Refusing to listen, running around in circles, being mouthy. Ugh.

I am trying to “find his currency.” He hates going to bed. HATES it. So tonight I made him go to bed 15 minutes early for the orange card plus 15 minutes early for the hiding it. We were supposed to go swimming on Wednesday afternoon, but I also cancelled that. I don’t know if that was harsh enough, but it sure did make him scream. It is hard to figure out the balance between putting too much pressure on him and making him totally hate school and feel like he has to lie to me even more and giving him consequences so he gets things through his brain.

I’ve been looking into an alternate discipline system because time outs just aren’t doing it. I don’t see how any of them are going to work if he doesn’t care. Here’s something I came up with tonight. I would prefer something with a more positive spin, but I mostly need something that will work.

I’m going to make some sort of big clock and make a little Erik to go on the minute hand. It will start out at 8 pm every morning. When he doesn’t listen, the clock will get moved back five minutes. That will be his bedtime, so it will be up to him if he has to go to bed super early or on time. If he is able to redeem himself, he may be able to earn back minutes. I need to think on it a little more. I want to incorporate something that rewards the positive behaviors I’m looking for.

No lie, parenting is the hardest job I’ve ever had.