Before I get going, please know that I love my nephew more than I love life itself and just really need to vent, but if anyone has any suggestions for me pipe up.
Since I've been unemployed I've been providing child care for my niece and nephew. My niece aka Boo aka Diva aka Lil Monster (you get the picture) is 2. My nephew aka Lil Man aka Not so Lil Monster is 4 1/2. Boo is not your typical 2 year old. She is compliant, loves to help, rarely has meltdowns and is the reason I get up every morning. Lil Man is a different story. He is basically a pretty good kid, but lately is pushing every button to the point I think some of them are permanently broken. It seems like lately he can't talk, everything he says is in a whine and is a catastrophy (ie he dropped his hat while driving home from preschool this morning and screamed in a whine about it) I can't stand whining and it's driving me crazy. I've tried whining back at him to see if it would sink in that that tone of voice is irritating with no luck. He also lies all the time. It doesn't matter what it is, he'll lie. (ie as I'm standing there holding his boots telling him to put them on he looks me straight in the eye and says I have them on. When I point out that I am holding his boots so he obviously doesn't have them on he'll say those aren't boots, they're socks) I've begun giving him a time out every time he lies, but there are times when due to time constraints a time out isn't possible, and it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm not the only one who sees/hears the lying, my brother and sister in law are both at their wits end with it. He also has major food issues, has been dxd with food neo-phobia. The boy literally eats less than 12 things. He is in therapy for it, but it's so frustrating to not be able to make one meal (the 2 year old will eat anything you put in front of her). He does have a reason for his food issues though. As an infant he had to be taught to swallow and ate only stage 2 baby food until he was over the age of 2. It's so bad still that he will vomit if you even try to give him one bite of something not on his list. A while back I made banana bread and tried to get him to taste one bite by putting a crumb on his lip which resulted in carpets needing to be cleaned. He also has a major dose of learned helplessness, or male syndrome lol. He refuses to do most things for himself. It's pretty bad when you lay out clothes for a 2 year old to dress herself, so you have time to dress a 4 year old Know what I mean??
As for stress, well living in a hotel room for three months with a 16 year old male because I can't find a place and even if I could can't afford it. enough said? Children's Mental Health is paying for the room using respite funds thank god. We had been living with an elderly relative, but the stress there was just too much for me and I called difficult child's case manager saying he needs to go to foster care as I can't find us a place and need to get out of where we're living right now. She didn't want him in foster care and pulled strings to get it worked out for us to stay in the hotel until we find a place. I did get good news this morning from her though. After many weeks of waiting a multiple phone calls and emails and faxes HRA is looking for a place for us now. I hope we can be in our own place within the next couple of weeks.
Since I've been unemployed I've been providing child care for my niece and nephew. My niece aka Boo aka Diva aka Lil Monster (you get the picture) is 2. My nephew aka Lil Man aka Not so Lil Monster is 4 1/2. Boo is not your typical 2 year old. She is compliant, loves to help, rarely has meltdowns and is the reason I get up every morning. Lil Man is a different story. He is basically a pretty good kid, but lately is pushing every button to the point I think some of them are permanently broken. It seems like lately he can't talk, everything he says is in a whine and is a catastrophy (ie he dropped his hat while driving home from preschool this morning and screamed in a whine about it) I can't stand whining and it's driving me crazy. I've tried whining back at him to see if it would sink in that that tone of voice is irritating with no luck. He also lies all the time. It doesn't matter what it is, he'll lie. (ie as I'm standing there holding his boots telling him to put them on he looks me straight in the eye and says I have them on. When I point out that I am holding his boots so he obviously doesn't have them on he'll say those aren't boots, they're socks) I've begun giving him a time out every time he lies, but there are times when due to time constraints a time out isn't possible, and it doesn't seem to be helping. I'm not the only one who sees/hears the lying, my brother and sister in law are both at their wits end with it. He also has major food issues, has been dxd with food neo-phobia. The boy literally eats less than 12 things. He is in therapy for it, but it's so frustrating to not be able to make one meal (the 2 year old will eat anything you put in front of her). He does have a reason for his food issues though. As an infant he had to be taught to swallow and ate only stage 2 baby food until he was over the age of 2. It's so bad still that he will vomit if you even try to give him one bite of something not on his list. A while back I made banana bread and tried to get him to taste one bite by putting a crumb on his lip which resulted in carpets needing to be cleaned. He also has a major dose of learned helplessness, or male syndrome lol. He refuses to do most things for himself. It's pretty bad when you lay out clothes for a 2 year old to dress herself, so you have time to dress a 4 year old Know what I mean??
As for stress, well living in a hotel room for three months with a 16 year old male because I can't find a place and even if I could can't afford it. enough said? Children's Mental Health is paying for the room using respite funds thank god. We had been living with an elderly relative, but the stress there was just too much for me and I called difficult child's case manager saying he needs to go to foster care as I can't find us a place and need to get out of where we're living right now. She didn't want him in foster care and pulled strings to get it worked out for us to stay in the hotel until we find a place. I did get good news this morning from her though. After many weeks of waiting a multiple phone calls and emails and faxes HRA is looking for a place for us now. I hope we can be in our own place within the next couple of weeks.