We had a GREAT evening starting at about 6. Today was a no-TV afternoon as a consequence for hitting me, so after dinner (keep reading for how we kept entertained before dinner) we read. A lot. Have I mentioned before that it is a bad idea to get little kids books that have more than one story in them? Anyway, we read EIGHT Curious George stories. Five before her bath, and three after her bath. (Keep reading for more about her bath.) Then she got into bed with a library book all in Spanish (Dora, she pulled it off the shelf, we didn't bother trying to find it in English) to look at the pictures, and within five minutes she was OUT.
Oh, more excitement on the topic of getting into bed with the book. I knelt next to her bed and quietly praised the great things she had done since dinner, and then said "good night." And she said "good night" back. Normally she yells at me not to talk to her or not to say good night when I try it. It's the simple things, right?
Since I promised to go completely out of order, sleep. Last night, after a horrible attempt to get Sabrina to sleep in her room (ultimately successful, but with lots of crying), she slept ALL NIGHT in her room and didn't wake me up at all! She slept 10 and a half hours, and still was groggy when I woke her up. She definitely needed that sleep.
And then she bit me. I think she needed even more sleep.
Even though she bit me, I decided she needed a treat because she stayed in her room all night. So I let her have donuts for breakfast. Next time, assuming that she gets ready for school in time (not the cast this morning at all), I'll attempt pancakes. (I confess to buying a mix today.)
After school. Oh, after school. I'm not sure if the problem started because one of her classmates said "Sabrina, your mommy's here" when I got to the classroom, or if she would have been upset anyway. We got to the street and I asked Sabrina to hold my hand. And she refused. She also wouldn't let me carry her. So I told her that she needed to hold my hand or let me carry her to go across the street. She dug her heels in, I dug mine in (okay look, I could have tried holding her sleeve or her backpack, I don't need you to tell me that, my sister already did, because she, like everyone else, decided that I was looking for advice when I posted my status on facebook...even though I was just letting off steam. I had 4 people tell me that I should microwave the butter that I had just taken out of the freezer that I wanted to use for baking. Even if I wanted advice, did I really need it four times? The same advice? On the same status?), and an hour later (an HOUR!) we were still on the curb outside of school. We went back inside because Sabrina said "I didn't say goodbye to my teachers!" which is true, but I didn't expect either of them to still be there. It turned out that one was, and she gave Sabrina a hug and told her to hold my hand, and Sabrina said "okay." We went back outside, and Sabrina STILL wouldn't hold my hand!! Ultimately she relented, we got in the car, she was absolutely fine with the seatbelt, and then she cried. It only took an hour and ten minutes to leave school. A new record.
While we were waiting, she hit me a few times, nothing too hard since I was standing and she therefore couldn't reach my face. I told her that if she hit me again (I used the word "smacked" because that is the word she uses), she wouldn't be able to watch TV until tomorrow. She hit me, I told her that she couldn't watch TV until tomorrow, she cried. Then when we got home she wanted "to hear something!!" I explained that there were consequences for hitting, and that she isn't allowed to watch TV today because she hit me. That is when she told me that I had said no TV if she SMACKED me, and smacking is hitting on the face. She only hit me, not smacked. Oy.
We were GOING to make gingerbread men after school. I made the cookies today (see: facebook status about butter) and bought cookie icing and some decorations, and found some puppet templates online, but then we got home and it was almost dinner time already. So she started to color a gingerbread man puppet, but that's all we did.
One of my friends suggested that a baked potato bar would be a fun dinner for a four year old. Sabrina, it turns out, doesn't like potatoes. Lovely. She also wasn't hungry, since she ate a pretty big snack bag of pretzels in the car on the way home. Right before dinner time.
But oh, her bath. We had a lot of fun with some new tub toys (letters and numbers! they stick to the wall! photos to come, though blogger and photos and I don't get along very well) and then she washed herself pretty well, but wouldn't let me help her with her back. Then I tried what is usually a recipe for disaster. I put soap on my hands, lathered it up, and just started washing her shoulders and back. Remarkably, she didn't start screaming or push me or anything! Then she LET ME PUT HER LOTION ON HER!! I got an email from the social worker that, among responses to my email to her yesterday, said that mom was concerned that I wasn't using enough lotion. (Sabrina has eczema so has medicated cream and needs regular moisturizer, too.) So I was able to say "your Mommy wants me to put lotion on you." Maybe that helped? Who knows.
Okay, I think that's it. Other than the photos. I'll go work on that :-)
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