More Sweet'ums

Sweet'ums is doing well at school. She has already met two of the five goals for the year listed in her IEP. Her teacher is confident that she'll meet the rest before the end of the school year. Most days she's good to the other kids in her class and tries to defend them. She's had a couple bad days at school but her teacher takes them in stride and says not to worry, they all have bad days now and then. I struggle, though. On one hand I don't believe in allowing children to get away with disrespecting their teachers and classmates. On the other, I think her teacher is right--I don't know if she even remembers what she did wrong by the time she gets home. Honestly, I'm not even sure she relates her bad behavior to being a problem for anyone else. I know she's young yet, but I remember understanding at her age that my actions could hurt or disappoint others. She doesn't seem to "get" that yet. So I have no idea whether to discipline her or not, and even if I were to try, I have no clue how to go about it. Punishment seems to completely roll off her back, beyond simply making her angry. She doesn't seem to internalize any of it or connect it to her behavior.

Other than that, things are more of the same. She has her meltdowns, refuses to eat, doesn't want to go to bed at night and is a pain to get up in the mornings. Sounds like a teenager, right? Heck, she even begs for my keys when we get back to the house in the afternoons. The only difference between her and a 16-year-old is that she wants to unlock the front door, not take the car. She's getting a little better with her sound sensitivity but she seems more afraid of random things than ever before. She's talkative most days now, which is a step in the right direction.

She's obsessed with holidays. She loved Halloween and now she's psyched about Christmas. We got her one of those Elf on the Shelf things. We named it Holly and it goes everywhere with her. We told her that every night Holly calls Santa to tell him whether Sweet'ums was good or not during the day. Sweet'ums seems to remember this, but it isn't a deterrent to the bad behavior. It's like maybe it's an afterthought, or maybe she knows Santa is paying attention but she can't help herself anyway. I don't know. There's so much I don't know because she doesn't tell me anything about how she thinks. Anyway, she's also obsessed with Christmas lights and Christmas trees and the whole thing. I think gifts are just a consequence of the holiday to her, not the driving force like it is for a lot of kids. She just likes the decorations and festivities. She's even got a string of lights up in her room and she insists on having them on at bedtime.


So, here's a few pictures before I go. Enjoy!

It's hard work being so darn cute, and there's no better place to take a nap than on Daddy's feet on the end of the recliner.

Not quite what the author had in mind, I'm sure, but at least she's enjoying her book!