Since Kai moved in six months ago I've been planning to move him into Luk's cupboard. In the scheme of things it wasn't deemed important and we've just dealt with his dresser in the hallway. Not ideal. Kids have really missed the big mirror it's blocking.
Now that they will be in school it's time to streamline the system. I've been playing in their clothes for three hours! Both boys tried on a ton of pants and we're great sports about it. Kai could have cared less about his new piles in the shared cabinet.
Laundry is caught up. Motorhome clothing is back in. I actually finished the boys clothing! They have enough of everything. I asked Kai to put his new sox away last week and they have yet to show up. Heaven only knows where he put them. He says he doesn't know.
I've tidied Jia's room and emptied her drawers and shelves. It's a disaster in there. She's outgrown everything so we desperately need to cull it out. We're hoping to wrangle her up there after dinner. It's highly unlikely we'll get her sorted in one go ;) Update: she was surprisingly great, we only have sox/undies/bathing suits and dresses to go. Still need to go through her to grow into boxes too. Then she suggested we do shoe/coat cubbies. Oy. Another day for shoes and coats. She just needs some black pants and a bigger gymnastics outfit.
Big giant bags of clothes to donate. Also we're out of to grow into clothes for the boys. A mission for my Tuesday thrift trips. They need size 6 and up for any friends passing on boy things :)
Feeling pretty happy that I no longer have to play in Lili and Fei's closets any more!
Jia asked for playdoh today. They played for a couple hours before lunch and three more after. The three of them together, at a table, talking, sharing, interacting and laughing, FOR FIVE HOURS. How wild is that?! And that was how I got so much done today.
We needed this day after yesterday. Jia was way out of sorts and obnoxious most of the day. The fall out of back to school. She was rude and bossy. Loud and argumentative. We're missing our anxiety free summer girl! It was a long day. I had foolishly thought we might need a down day after the busy end of summer. Turned out we needed a down day today to get over the down day yesterday. When Eric went to town for lantern tea lights I begged him to take Jia.
Kai wasn't much better. He was fussing and didn't want anything to do with any of us in the afternoon. He had a fit when I asked him to come and look at the lanterns in the dark. I was trying to distract him from his jealousy over Luk having a turn with the little lego. When he reached screaming in his fit we asked him to go to his room and come back when he was done screaming. We had set them up with different toys at the table because Kai wasn't getting along with Luk. So...as he went upstairs his screaming escalated. Which sadly is the norm for all of them who are sent to their rooms to calm down. It's not a daily or even weekly thing but it happens now and then with three of them. You all can guess which three ;) Anyways it suddenly got really quiet so Eric ran up and was too late. He had once again sat in Luk's little blue recliner and peed. On purpose. Eric asked if he peed and he happily and proudly declared "Yup!". The poor chair was cleaned yet again and it's now been removed. It's clearly his go to in the room to pee on right now. Luk handles his stuff being peed on WAY better than you could ever expect. He just looks at Kai all sad and asks "why did you do that Kai?". Which of course Kai always answers "I don't know". Sigh.
We really have no coping skills for these moments. He was carried downstairs and put in the tub. He was made to apologize to Luk. We have no clue how to move through these moments. Basically he had a boring bath. No toys. No one paying attention to him and he still sat singing. We even had Fei wash his hair so he wasn't getting attention from Mom and Dad. He has the most amazing survival skills ever.
But what happens next time he's jealous of Luk? He has dropped being jealous of Jia.
I do know that this too shall pass.
I've had someone tell me recently that these are private issues that shouldn't be shared. For the record, this is our life. We're all living it. The blog isn't handed out to just anyone. Mostly other adoptive families. Lots of families waiting to adopt older kids. So I think it's important to share the good and the not so great. No rosy glasses here. Plus, we're open to suggestions! What have you all tried with your sons when they were marking with pee?! Inquiring minds really do want to know what might work to dissuade him. Clearly asking him not to do disgusting things isn't working. And of course we feel tremendously sad for him that he feels the need to resort to these things. Sadly almost always in anger and jealousy over toys.
Today Kai was engaging. Working on speaking clearly. Agreeable and happy all day. Totally loving and fabulous with all of us. The near perfect child. Oh the highs and lows!
Mom, I know how much you appreciate a clean, tidy closet, so the photos are for you. Jia thought I was totally nuts taking pictures of shelves.
