How did Christmas go, everyone?

[SRL]

In a moment of quiet yesterday at my in laws I was thinking back to the Christmas when difficult child was a preschooler and all difficult child hell broke loose and I got into a Mama Bear shouting match with my father-in-law over it. What a contrast yesterday was: no gfgness in sight, only a respectful, appropriate, typical teen.

Always have hope.

How did it go with you?

 

[Mayapple5]

If ours was any indication of Christmas' to come, I'll pass! difficult child was whiny all day! easy child 2 was glad it was time to go back to her apartment for peace and quiet, she wouldn't even stay for pizza for supper. I went to take difficult child up to bed and had found she had gotten in to things she wasn't supposed to have during her nap in the afternoon. I tried to get her to help me pick them up but she was refusing and ran back down stairs. Dad brought her back up to help but she was screaming and laughing and running around, that after I picked things up and gathered clothes for today I left him to deal with her. Well he didn't do any better at that than I would have! He admittedly felt shame for the way he handled it. We do have to find a better way to handle her when she gets out of control! She knows we won't discipline her and she just laughs at us and calls us names. I know she is only five now but what do we do as she gets older. Something has to be done now it won't get better as she gets older! I'm scared our of my mind.

We do have a counselor now and she is going to be working with us weekly with difficult child and both of us on how to deal with situations like this but once a week doesn't seem like it is going to be enough! The problem is the driving distance between us (about 2 hours)

This little 5 year old has got the upper hand here and I'm scared! I'm not looking forward to another week off of school with her and that is a terrible thing to say about my own daughter, whom I love so dearly! I hate myself for even thinking that let alone saying it!

I have limited sugar, but as of today we are cutting ALL sugar. We both think the holiday got way out of control. Has anyone had any luck with sugarless candy? I know it has Splenda in it in place of sugar, is that any better? How about chocolate, has anyone found that to make a difference in your difficult child's behavior?

 

[tiredmommy]

Ours didn't go quite as well as yours because Duckie was extremely overtired, but she's seven. She swore she would sleep until 6:30, then decided 6am. She woke us at 4:40am. We took her to my sister in law's last night where she hit our 9 year old nephew, leaving a red mark. That's rare for her. We left shortly thereafter.

 

[30 and searching]

We went to my grandma's last night. Even though they have a large house, when you have 50 people in there, it is much smaller! LOL! Things turned out pretty much like I expected. Chaotic.

My little guy always gets over stimulated, and is always really hyper in general, but especiallt there, with- all the people. I had no time to converse with- my relatives, because I was too busy watching our boy, and making sure he didn't hurt any of the other little kids. Although I asked my husband to help out more with- that, he would end up talking to someone, and I would have to be on the watch instead. Grrrrr!

Our 3 year old doesn't try to hurt other kids intentionally. He is just so hyper and wild, that he is constantly running, and sometimes not always looking out for others. Also he plays pretty rough, and has a hard time sharing toys.... whether they're his, or someone elses's!

My 20 month old neice had a piggy bank toy, with- plastic coins that our 3- year old was playing with-. 2 18 month old boys, and a boy thast's a little younger than ours, came over to play also. So I was trying to teach our boy how to share the coins and take turns. He did good at first, but then was trying to take the pig away from the others, and grab all the coins for himself, etc. At one point, he almost slammed the latch at the bottom, on my cousin's 18 mo. old son. I put my hand in between, so he didn't get his little fingers pinched, just in time!

Our little guy did end up running into my four-yr. old neice and they both went a tumblin. My neice was screaming and crying, but our boy didn't as much as say ouch! I believe he has a high tolerance for pain, cuz it takes a lot for him to cry when he gets hurt.

All in all, things could have been worse, but I wish they had also gone better, you know what I mean? None of the other kids are wild like our son is, and they all know how to share. It was very stressful on me, and I just wish husband would have helped me out more. I felt like I ran a marathon after 3 hours there, and I looked at husband and said, "We need to go now." I was just exhausted! Well, that's the holidays for us, pretty tiring! On a positive note, our little guy loves his new hotwheels tracks, and cars!

 

[Jena]

I'Tourette's Syndrome nice to hear it went so well, there is hope afterall, huh..?? LOL

Ours was ok, long story..........already posted it. Our own xmas morning was great though. difficult child and easy child loved their gifts, I loved mine, we all had breakfast together, boyfriend made cupcakes with difficult child with her brand new cupcake maker santa got her. it was really cute.

it's when we left home it all turned ugly, we should of stayed home lol

 

[30 and searching]

I read the other thread, Jennifer, I am sorry that your child had her feelings hurt. I think the kids should be treated as equally as possible with the gifts. That was mean and irresponsible of them, in my opinion.

We had our last holiday gathering today at sister in law's house.. my husband's sister. Our little guy was spoiled with- lots of presents, as he usually is over there. It was also very stressful, though, cuz I get the feeling from my sister in law, that she doesn't think we set enough limits for our 3- year- old. She sees it as a "parenting issue," that we're not strict enough. She has a 9- year- old son, who has ADHD, you'd think she'd be more understanding... but no. I am just sooooo glad the holiday get togethers are done! We've had 4 of them since Christmas. It's been a lot for our little guy, and a lot for us, too!

 

[tiredmommy]

30- I was not above a little white lie to get us out of yet another get together when my difficult child needed downtime. Saying the little love had a tummy bug worked wonders.