J and J came to visit the weekend of the time change. E stayed up late Friday and Saturday night, and by Sunday she was a basket case. We went for a lovely walk, during which the kids climbed lots of rocks, which usually she loves, and all she did was weep--everyone else got to climb first, nobody was paying attention to her, the world was unfair.
Well, it's been ten days now, and she's still weeping, and the world is still unfair. I am mean and horrible, M never pays attention to her AND gets everything her way, S is mean and horrible for going to work, everything is my fault because I am trying to get some work done, everything she tries to do goes wrong, and NO, SHE IS NOT HUNGRY!
She doesn't want to play, she doesn't want to read, she doesn't want to go to the playground, and SHE DOESN'T WANT ANYTHING TO EAT. She can't do the monkey bars because of her calluses, but she can't not do the monkey bars because they're always there.
There has been much rolling on the floor, weeping, and running into her room, throwing herself on the floor, and weeping.
We're talking ten days now (with, to be honest, some normal periods, but really, it is like this for a good chunk of every day).
Baths are one of the few things that calm her, but tonight there wasn't enough hot water, so the bath wasn't deep enough, so no go. Not for the first time, I've resorted to TV, which is working for now, though I have little faith.
I'm trying to stay patient. I text S regular "updates from the psych ward" to keep my sense of humor in operation (because, truly, her melodramatic agony can be quite hilarious). But at this rate, one of us is going to end up in the real psych ward, and it's not going to be long.
Edited to add: After an hour of TV, she was sweet and loving at bedtime. Maybe I need to start administering TV prophylactically.
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4 comments:
I had COMPLETELY forgotten those monkey-bar calluses--that takes me back...
(E. may be amused to hear that the English name for such things is "climbing frames," which strikes me as exactly and pedantically expressive of Englishness in a quite wonderful way!)
Good luck surviving this patch!
Yeah...mercury went out of retrograde right before the time change. But if you want to go astrological, E. might be getting some mars action. (I can't remember her sun sign - I wonder if she's a cancer? - they've got some mars thing going on). TV is good, but if you could get her out for a run - that might be even better! Good luck...
Oh, boy. Yeah... L has been v v dramatic this week, probably because I'm sick and just not all there with her. Lots of down on the floor wailing and tearing at hair and clothes. Oh, and the bleeding blisters due to the monkey bars addiction, well. She just can't seem to stop. L is also a Cancer. So maybe postacademic is onto something there... hope it gets better and fast!
Wow - this week was the first time my 10 year old told me she hated me. Now I can blame it on her Mars action (she's a Cancer).
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