When life hands you lemons

We are making gallons of lemonade in our humble abode. Or, limeade, as Darling likes to jest. He has a very dry sense of humor. When life hands you lemons, he says, "Make limeade." Ha. Ha. Ha.

I think last week I was having major hormonal surges. This has been known to happen from time to time. Or from month to month, if you get my drift. I hate to blame it on that, but it is almost like I am viewing a movie from the inside and I am out of my body. Difficult to explain, but it is true. Every thought that comes out of my head, every word that comes out of my mouth, every action I take is purely out of my control. When I was a kid they said I had a problem with self control. These days they call it ADD and prescribe Ritalin. Except I am an adult and I am supposed to know better!

Bug Boy has been off for three days now. Camp ended last week and he is enjoying being lazy around the house, having unstructured time and eating hot lunches (his ONLY complaint about camp was that he had to eat a cold lunch!). I am waiting for the other shoe to drop, because when Bug Boy has unstructured time he tends to lose control and melt down. He has had two or three meltdowns this week, which is a huge improvement over the up to ten a day he had before camp! I'll take it and run! WOOHOO! Camp truly was a gift for our family, we are all so much happier!

Yesterday Bug Boy wanted to play with CP next door. CP is the little boy (seven) who lives next to us. CP also has two sisters, 6 and 5. They are all around Luke's age and he likes playing with all three, but mostly CP. So, I coached him on what to say, since it was his first time "knocking up" for the kid next door. He was anxious about knowing what to do. In the past we usually just wait until they come out to ask them to come over, or they see us outside and invite us to play.

Me: Ok Bug Boy, you are going to go over and knock on the door. Hard enough so they can hear you. And when S. opens the door, you ask in your best manners, "Can CP please come over to play for a little while? My mom says it is ok!"

Bug Boy: Ok. I will say, "Chris! Come play! But not MP or KP because they fight with each other and it hurts my ears, so I only want CP to play! Just CP, not MP or KP! "

Me: Well, that might hurt their feelings if you say it like that. How would you feel if they came over and did that? If they said, "We only want to play with Bugaboo, not you, Bug Boy!"

Bug Boy: I wouldn't like that! That is NOT nice! That makes me angry!

Me: Ok, then I want you to ask, "Could CP please come out to play?" And if they girls ask, tell them that mommy said that when their mommy gets home we can all go out in the backyard together and play a game.

Bug Boy: Ok! Got it!

So, I peek out the door, watch Bug Boy climb the steps with apprehension, and wait for their door to open. He rang the doorbell, which doesn't work, so I told him to knock as hard as he could.

tap.tap.tap.

Me: Louder!

TAP.TAP.

They answer the door (all three kids, the babysitter and the two dogs!) and Bug Boy blurts out, "I need Chris to come out to play, not the girls, just Chris. My mom said so."

Oh dear.

So, we have a teensy bit of work to do on the social interaction. But at least he went over and knocked by himself, which he normally refuses to do. Social stories are really coming in handy, with Bug Boy, we just need to do more coaching.