Monday, March 30, 2009

Morning Attitude Here It Comes

Oh great! School is out on Monday and I don't know what to do with Dusty while I work. OK stay calm, I'll just find someone to sit with him. I don't mind leaving him alone at home for a few hours after school, but I'm not really uncomfortable leaving him alone all day if I can help it. Well there is so many things running through my mind about now so I decided to ask my younger son's girlfriend who attends school in the same school district as Dusty if she wouldn't mind watching him since she would be out too and since she has no job. I thought she would like an opportunity to make a little cash. Well this morning I woke Dusty up around 8am so I could feed him breakfast and make sure he had his medicine. I told him I had a sausage, egg and cheese croissant in the microwave for him so he needed to get up. I went back into his room to make sure he was up and the attitude started. He had already last evening, copped an attitude and pushed my buttons really bad, but this morning I made up my mind that despite being upset the night before, I was going to put it all behind me and start the day out right. Well too bad he didn't have the same idea."I'm not eating no darn croissant" he said. I followed him down the hall into the living room and asked him, " well what do you want to eat"? With much silence, he sat there looking down at the floor. He continued to not answer my questions. Then the microwave buzzer went off. "Get the microwave, it's gone off", he said. I looked at him and said, "what's the point in getting the sandwich out of the microwave if you are not going to eat it"? At this time I was doing everything I could to not let my idea of starting out the day on a bad note change. "Ronda! I said go get the microwave"! OK, that's it. I was getting steamed. Then I decided to tell him, "If you want that croissant then you go get it yourself and anything else you may want for breakfast. Then you sit here and eat and do not open your mouth. Not once". It didn't take him long to get up off that floor and get moving and by this time he knew he had crossed the line. After he ate, I gave him his medication and he went to his room and watched TV. I sat on the sofa watching the news drinking a glass of tea thinking about what just happened. I get really aggravated when Dusty starts ordering me around when I'm suppose to be the adult here. I keep thinking what on earth could be the psychological problem in his head that makes him so bossy in the mornings and why he thinks he can keep on and keep on until I'm actually irritated to the point that I simply don't want to be around him and that his room is the best place for him to be. I can't help but remember how that was all his mom did in order to not have to deal with him. "I don't want to be like that with this child", I thought. " I want to hold him accountable for his actions". After a while, Dusty came into the room I was in and put his arms around me. By this time I knew the meds had kicked in and I needed that to happen before the sitter got here and I had to leave for work. I talked to him about the way he tries to boss me around and that I simply was not going to put up with it and that if he didn't straighten up that he was going to loose a lot of privileges.

Megan showed up around 9am and I left strict instructions to Dustin that I in no way shape or form wanted him to act up or mistreat Megan in any way. I went on to work trying to put the morning events behind me. One of the reasons I had someone to stay with Dusty to begin with was so I wouldn't worry so much about him at work which would hinder my critical thinking at.Around 12:30 I came home for lunch to make sure that Dusty got his 1pm pill. I hate that I have to give him so much medication but there seems to be no other way to control this child. Megan said that he had spent all morning in his room playing videos and under the circumstances I thought that was the best. Usually I would make him go outside and ride his bike or clean the yard. He did pretty well the rest of the day, but was dreading that late afternoon attitude. Luckily it didn't show up this time. He help feed and water the dogs since I have them locked up in the pen outside. Some days I just never know what kind of attitude I'm going to have. It's a wait and see kind of life.