September 19

It was a a hard week with Aaron this week. I was hoping school and a routine would help more, but it's pretty much the same. And the teasing and fighting between Aaron and Danny that got pretty bad over the summer, hasn't gone away much either. I started having "TT's" (tantrum talks) with Aaron a couple of weeks ago. When we used to go meet with Paula, it seemed to help, but it costs so much and Aaron said he didn't want to go to her any more, so the idea for TTs came to me one night when I was praying. We have them once a week and for just 5 or 10 minutes. We talk about things that trigger Aaron or different ways we can help the tantrums. He used to freak out every time he got hungry because he couldn't decide what to eat. So for one of the TTs we brainstormed about all the ideas for snacks we have and put pictures of them on the fridge. That one has really helped the tantrums over food.

He had been making a little progress, but this week was a set back week. I'm not sure what made the difference, but he was having constant tantrums and yelling at me from Sunday to Wednesday. Wednesday night I just broke down, it's so stressful to watch him be so upset and to be yelled at so much of the day. I had the same thought I had about him when he was four or five months old: "What does he have to be so upset about all the time". It makes me sad that he's unhappy so much of the time. I had that thought about him when he was a baby and I took him to the doctor. That's when they gave him reflux medicine and it helped a lot, but he was still a little grumpier than my other babies were. So my new plan is to just spend more time with Aaron. I had been working on websites for two hours every day when Seth has his nap. That worked really well during the summer. But now the older kids are at school then and it leaves Aaron to hang out by himself. So I've been trying to spend that time playing with Aaron and finding other times to work. It seems to be helping a little.

The boys started soccer this week. They both liked it. And Bob started coaching Aaron's team. And it's started cooling down a little, so we go outside and ride bikes and scooters every night. The kids love it.

We go to California Adventures this Thursday. We're just leaving Thurs after school and going to the Park all day Friday and driving home that night. So it'll be quick and hopefully easy.

We told our kids about the house we want to buy this week. They were all really excited. We weren't sure if we wanted to tell them because it's such a long process where nothing happens for a long time. But we didn't want anyone else to say anything to them, so we decided it would be better for us to tell them first.