My teenage daughter and I are at an impasse when it comes to homework. She will not turn in her schoolwork to be corrected. She is doing her assignments, but she will not have them graded. This stubbornness is a problem for several reasons.

She doesn’t always understand written directions until I explain them to her and show her several examples. Therefore, if she doesn’t have her work checked for a few weeks, she may complete several assignments incorrectly, by following the wrong procedures. By then, the incorrect methodology is ingrained in her mind,... more

Ambivalence (n): the coexistence within an individual of positive and negative feelings toward the same person, object, or action, simultaneously drawing him or her in opposite directions.

As my alarm went off today I could hear her voice. LuLu was already awake and chattering to Super Dad, who normally at 5:30 am would be sipping his tea and taking in the world through his newspaper. Instead, he was trying to sneak peeks at the paper between responding to her. As I stumbled to the kitchen (i.e. the coffee pot), he smiled weakly and shook his head.

Super... more

While this doesn’t happen nearly as often as it used to, when I spent the first 2+ years of LuLu’s life with us sleep deprived, LuLu is back to not sleeping through the night. And I’m back to looking for culprits.

Last night, instead of just waking up and then settling back in, she woke up at 2 am and wasn’t able to go back to sleep at all. LuLu is not an easy child to ignore, or to settle in to a self-directed activity at 2 am when her stomach is upset and all is not right in her world. So I doctored her as best I could, but she was still wide awake. And... more

Check out this picture of my LuLu! It’s new to me; I just received it last night. We were at church for our usual Wednesday night events, when the new preschool director, a dear friend of mine, dropped this picture in my lap. She was cleaning out things at the preschool and found this picture from when LuLu was four. Apparently the proofs of this photo shoot were never sent home for the parents to order pictures.

LuLu’s first preschool experience was a good one, specifically because this woman who is now preschool director was her teacher. This woman,... more

Is it the weather, the alignment of the planets or what? There seems to be a recurrent theme here on adoptionBLOGS.com lately. We parents seem to be worn down or worn out and apparently, our children are just getting wound up to go another round. Perhaps it was the irregular schedule of summer giving way to the regiment of the school year that was the catalyst for our children and the “butt kicker” for us parents.

Because we have made a permanent commitment to our troubled children, there is no way out. Therefore, we trudge forward. Were it not for our daily planners, I... more

I’ve got to admit that around here we feel a bit like Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles. Check out the YouTube video for her wonderfully hilarious song, “I’m Tired”.

Admittedly, I did not spend my weekend as a dance hall girl, so my tired is not from the same activities as ol’ Madeline’s were. But “I’m tired…tired of playing the game…ain’t it a crying shame? I’m so tired!” On Saturday our plans for the churchwide outreach event were in major motion, starting at 7 am, when we tanked up on coffee and started... more

My teenage daughter’s new favorite response to my “Why didn’t you?” questions is, “I guess I didn’t want to do it.” One of her age-old favorites to these types of questions was, “I don’t know.” I realize that seems to be the universal response to parents asking questions. If you happen, to be asking a “who did it” type question then I am sure that you have heard, “Not me!”

That rotten little “Not Me” seems to live in just about every home in the world. That child is responsible for more damage and missing items, including cookies, than anyone else in the world.... more

As I was finishing up LuLu’s art project from yesterday all by myself (because her hands were tired), I exasperatedly thought “why am I doing this again?” Her art project was an assignment from me to make six sets of Dalmatian ears out of felt to glue on headbands. Why? Because we have six Dalmatian-clad children riding on our church’s float in the town’s parade on Saturday.

Super Dad and I are the people “in charge” this Saturday of our huge church-wide celebration event, which includes a float, several hours worth of band and musical entertainment, kids games, storytelling,... more

I truly wish I understood what made some days easier than others for LuLu. After an incredibly rough day yesterday, she awoke with some grumbles that could have turned into another bad day. Instead, determined to “stay on the positive path” she worked hard.

And it paid off. For nearly 45 minutes she did her math lesson unsupervised, with no interaction from me. It was a chapter review and she only sought my help once (I was on the phone), interrupting me respectfully to ask if two pints were in a quart.

I waited for the major explosion, as it seems lately there have been as... more

And sometimes it’s just me that stinks. I didn’t get to shower today. I can’t remember the last time (except for camping) when I didn’t shower. It was an odd, quirky day from the start. My normal routine is to awake and pump some caffeine into my veins and then start the blogging process. Kay arises and heads out the door to school. I shower, come back and finish the blogs if I’m not done, answer a few emails, make my “to do” list for the day and wake LuLu. Then we get started on school.

Today was nothing like that. Kay has a sinus infection. She woke early to ask if... more