Eternal Satisfaction of The Half-Crazed Mind

Because i don't have a counter or a tracker on my blog I never know quite who is reading this thing and I am always surprised when people come up to me and tell me that they are reading my blog. I know I should make and effort at gearing the blog toward one particular group of reader, but frankly, i am just too lazy. So all of my childless readers are going to have to endure, or skip over, my parenting post. Lately, I have been able to turn a corner with a Olivia and her crazy behavior and I am a firm believer in telling everyone that my child is a horrible beast, as opposed to those mothers that deny that their children ever misbehave and they must just be the most perfect parents on earth, and then telling everyone how I finally and eventually slay the beast.

Number one is the photo above. This is Olivia's drum teacher, Dane. At first everyone thought I was crazy to hire someone to give my daughter private drum lessons and after about a month of lessons i did too. I am telling you people, e-mail me and i will give you this kid's number because he is a gem. The last few weeks we have been struggling with olivia paying absolutely no attention and really not enjoying lessons so Dane sucked it up, went to one of his professors and got a whole bunch of new ideas and this week lessons were a dream. This is why you pay for private lessons, because in a group class Olivia would have been my problem, the teacher would have been reluctant to modify her teaching style and i would have ended up having to look for a new class, not too easy, or drop out. Total waste of money. Yes, it is worth it. Suck it up and put your four year old in private music lessons, Olivia's dancing has improved as well as her sense of rhythm and her reading ability. Dane took part of the lesson to show Olivia how to break down the syllables in her book into a rhythm. Something the musically retarded, like yours truly, would never have thought of.

Teach your kid sign language. Olivia has been fascinated with sign language after watching a cartoon about a deaf child a few months ago. I put up a lot of resistance to trying to learn it, because frankly, we were already overwhelmed with the other two languages she wants to learn. Two weeks ago I buckled and took out some books at the library, of course, and was elated at the possibilities. We have been using sign language as an alternative for Olivia to express her emotions. Olivia is incredibly emotional, and though she tries pretty hard to use her words, sometimes the impulse to hit or scream or break things takes over and once you are at that point it is a good half hour before you get your kid back again. The sign language is a great physical alternative for Olivia to use her body, important for a dancer, to express what she is feeling. Giving me the sign for angry is way better than being hit, let me tell you. Plus it has been working great to communicate when I need her to be quiet while I am on the phone, She knows the basic, I'm thirsty, I'm hungry, or typically, I'm angry that you are on the phone.

I am still working on getting her to make smooth transitions and taking less than three hours to get dressed, and then staying in that outfit for the whole day, but one thing at a time i guess.