Had a good weekend plus get two weekends kid free!

allhaileris

Crumbling Family Rock
husband and I are big Renaissance Fair geeks and work every year. Well, he has worked but I've spent many weekends at home taking care of daughter so he can get a break. This is where husband and I met and have a family type bond with a ton of people.

Well, last weekend was the first of six weekends, and we all went. I made Eris a couple more pieces of her costume so she had a costume that went with her age and she was totally adorable. Here is the biggie - she had only ONE tantrum, and only because it was late and she was tired. I took her back to our tent, told her a story and actually saw her fall asleep (which never happens). We had a good weekend! When she asked for things and I said no, she didn't freak out (she's been getting better at this anyway, didn't freak out yesterday at Target when I didn't want to go to the toys either). She had lots of new people to talk to, and saw quite a few people she knew already. Had a weird experience getting dissed by an 8 year old and acted weird for about an hour after, but worked it out in her own way and was back to normal soon. She got a bunch of free stuff for being cute and the kid of a Faire worker (free rides on swings, marbles, pottery charms).

husband didn't want to take her because he's been so stressed out, but in the end he didn't throw a fit about her either. Yay! SHe prooved she could go and act decent. I had originally planned on not going 2nd and 4th weekend, but she did so well I'm going this weekend as well (2nd). And, one of my friends said she'd watch her in the late evening so we could go have some fun on site with our party friends. Last weekend I stayed in the tent while husband went off. THis weekend we'll be able to go out together and be adults.

And to top it all off, my brother and his girlfriend agreed to watch her for the 3rd (my birthday) and 5th weekend so I can go with husband and we can really have fun and relax (and work more hours since we'll be able to overlap schedules).

Nothing at home has changed attitude wise, but this is an amazingly huge improvement. To actually be able to go enjoy ourselves, share something with her that we love and have her be manageable.
 

RhondaVoos

Rhonda
Bask in that feeling girl, you've earned it! i hope your other weekends are just as good. We adopted older kids from foster care (son 4 and daughter 6) We spend a week every year at Disneyland. My kids used to take every oppourtunity to "ruin" it for me and for THEMSELVES. I tried everything. I finally started bringing a stroller as a portable time out chair. After the first time I used it, (they were APALLED, way embarrassed to be in a stroller at that age) mostly it was just used for carrying our stuff. But it was always there, lurking, waiting to be needed. My kids were 8 and 10 when I stopped bringing the stroller. They tried telling me they were too big for it, I told them i would butter them and slide them in if I had to. They knew I meant it. I would just blissfully (can't let them see you sweat) push them along while saying things like "I am sorry that you are too tired to enjoy yourself, maybe after a rest in the stroller, you can have some fun... If that doesn't work, you can at least have a good laugh about it (on the inside)

Rhonda
 

Andy

Active Member
All - That is fantastic news. We went to the Renaissance in MN Labor Day weekend. It was so much fun. difficult child wanted to go to ride an elephant again (we had gone a few years ago). You must dress your difficult child up in her costume everyday - maybe she was playing a role? Great news also for her being accepting about no toys every single time you go out.

Rhonda - We went to Disney World in FL when difficult child was 8 (he was a easy child at that time). It was our 1st glimpse of GFGness. We arrived on a Sunday and by Wednesday, difficult child did not want to do anything. He hid under the bed, couldn't get him out. So, he and I stayed at the timeshare while the rest of the family went to the airport to pick up brother in law. That afternoon when we went to Epcot (how do you spell that one?) Center, husband was miffed at me when I got a stroller (difficult child is skinny so still could get in one). However, I insisted that difficult child could not keep up with us without it. We didn't use it much but it helped tremendously when we did need it. We found out he did not like Disney Land because he thought it was going to be one large carnival. He didn't quiet appreciate the slow rides. The best day we had with the kids was when we drove to CoCoa Beach - Mid January so we had it to ourselves. I thnk the kids would have been happy all week on the beach. difficult child was planning on catching a baby shark for me and running real fast so the mommy shark wouldn't get him. I choose not to show him the shark in the jar at the gift shop - wasn't sure I wanted to bring one home.



 
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