Anyone out there have a phobia? They are terrible!! Vilate has one. A terrible one. One that I don't think I can deal with anymore. She is afraid of animals. At first it was just dogs, then cats. Okay, those I can kind of understand...dogs have never been my favorite, unless they were my own. I just can't predict what they are going to do...I don't like the unknown. Cats I can understand, well not the fear, but I certainly don't care for them. But...the worst has started to show itself. The end of May we went to Yosemite (see previous posts). She sat in the car for the first few house, terrified of...SQUIRRELS! Ugh!! Who is afraid of a squirrel?!?!?! That would be Vilate.
So over the summer I took her to a psychologist at Kaiser. He said that she needs "full immersion therapy." Basically take her to a house where a nice dog resides and make her love the dog. I was not dilligent (is that how that is spelled?). I did not do it. I didn't want to impose on my friends and have to take all SIX of my kids to their houses daily for 2 weeks...it just sounded like a lot to ask. Now this problem has become a monster that I need to kill NOW!!
Vilate is in 1st grade at Mission Avenue Open School. It is an amazing school! I really love it. She is in Miss Rausch's class. We have never had Miss Rausch before, but I am loving her class....the only drawback............she has ANIMALS!!!!!!!!!!!!! There is a bunny that hops around the classroom for 1/2 the day everyday! Vilate spent the first day sitting in the teacher's chair screaming and crying because she was so frightened. Everyday, so far we have completed 4, is becoming harder for her. She got up this morning and begged me to let her stay home! Here is the conversation:
"Mom, I don't want to go to school."
"Vilate, you will be fine. Remember that you had a good day yesterday. You even petted the bunny."
"NO" insert tears here "I HATE SCHOOL"
"No, you don't"
"Yes, I do. Well, I like school, but I am just so scared of the bunny."
So, what do I do? Any ideas? While talking to a great friend of mine we determined that it is probably a good idea to do the dog immersion, but we should also do an immediate bunny immersion, one on one. I am going to start on Monday taking the 3 kids at home to school at lunch and taking Vilate in her classroom while the other kids are playing outside. Maybe if it is just me, and the little kids, and her, we can overcome this hurdle. I don't know what to do...but I have to come up with something, today she came home from school and said that one of the girls called her a cry-baby. So sad!!! I am anxiously awaiting your brilliant ideas...anyone?
Thursday, August 21, 2008
I had a friend just recently post about Facebook and thought that I should check into this thing. I am so glad that I did. I have "found" friends from when I was a kid in Texas. It is neat to see how everyone is connected. If you haven't tried Facebook yet, here is my endorsement!!
www.facebook.com
www.facebook.com
Monday, August 18, 2008
1st day of school
Today was the best day of the year. The kids went back to school!!! I feel a little guilty saying that, but just a little bit!!!
My house was quiet. There was no arguing!!! It was amazing. I still had 3 kids at home, but they seemed to relish in the quiet. They were able to be in charge. Helaman loves being the oldest and he and Gloria play wonderfully together when no one else is around. Nephi took a great nap! It was delightful!
Okay, so now they are home and we have had multiple arguments, one case of door slamming and a few cases of whining! But I must say, I feel like I can handle it when they are being kept busy the first half of the day.
I am also appreciating that I don't have a mid-morning drop-off or pick-up. The kids go from 8:05 to 2:35. What a great 6 hours and 30 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! They are awesome, but it is wonderful that they can play with friends, learn new things, and be challenged and then I get bring them home and play with them!!! I hope everyone has a great first day of school like I did!!
My house was quiet. There was no arguing!!! It was amazing. I still had 3 kids at home, but they seemed to relish in the quiet. They were able to be in charge. Helaman loves being the oldest and he and Gloria play wonderfully together when no one else is around. Nephi took a great nap! It was delightful!
Okay, so now they are home and we have had multiple arguments, one case of door slamming and a few cases of whining! But I must say, I feel like I can handle it when they are being kept busy the first half of the day.
I am also appreciating that I don't have a mid-morning drop-off or pick-up. The kids go from 8:05 to 2:35. What a great 6 hours and 30 minutes. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids! They are awesome, but it is wonderful that they can play with friends, learn new things, and be challenged and then I get bring them home and play with them!!! I hope everyone has a great first day of school like I did!!
Special Gloria
Last Thursday we were really looking forward to going to the Mission Avenue (kids' school) Back-to-school picnic, but while I was putting Gloria's hair up in a ponytail...I saw what every mother dreads....LICE!!! Gross!!!!
I did handle this outbreak much better, more grown-up, than I did when Faith got it when she was about the same age Gloria is now. Back then I screamed and ran across the room and while pointing at her yelled to David that "Faith has bugs in her hair! Gross!!" This time, I just said, "dang-it" and proceeded to break the news to the kids that we were not going to contaminate the entire population of Mission kids and we would be missing the picnic.
I called Dave at work and told him to bring home $40 in quarters and I loaded up the van and got the shampoo at Walmart. We spent the next 24 hours cleaning bedrooms, washing clothes, and searching through everyone's hair. Lucky for me...Gloria was the only one infected, what a special girl! I am sooooooo glad I put her hair up that day. This could have been terrible.
So, by Friday afternoon we were de-bugged and able to go to the 4th grade party at our friends house. I HATE bugs!!! I would not wish this on my WORST enemy...well, maybe my WORST one!!!
I did handle this outbreak much better, more grown-up, than I did when Faith got it when she was about the same age Gloria is now. Back then I screamed and ran across the room and while pointing at her yelled to David that "Faith has bugs in her hair! Gross!!" This time, I just said, "dang-it" and proceeded to break the news to the kids that we were not going to contaminate the entire population of Mission kids and we would be missing the picnic.
I called Dave at work and told him to bring home $40 in quarters and I loaded up the van and got the shampoo at Walmart. We spent the next 24 hours cleaning bedrooms, washing clothes, and searching through everyone's hair. Lucky for me...Gloria was the only one infected, what a special girl! I am sooooooo glad I put her hair up that day. This could have been terrible.
So, by Friday afternoon we were de-bugged and able to go to the 4th grade party at our friends house. I HATE bugs!!! I would not wish this on my WORST enemy...well, maybe my WORST one!!!
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