Day 2

Okay - I must admit that I'm seriously rethinking the wisdom behind bringing my oldest son. I thought that this would be a good bonding experience for he and I, that it would be easier to discipline him with all the love and attention that he's getting, and that we would return and he would be a changed child. That is so not what is happening. I don't think that today could have been more difficult for me if I'd ordered it up out of a bad day catalog. He has been negative, disrespectful and hyper. I seriously think that I need to get out some of my parenting books again because I do not know what to do about this. I love him dearly, and he has such a tender heart, but this disrespectful negativity that he thinks is so funny is really getting old. I do know that a large reason for his behavior is that I've been letting him eat whatever he wants, and I am about to change that. Sugar, red food coloring and white flour all send him to the moon. He's had cereal (chocolate on top of that), red Kool-aid, lemonade, white bread, ice cream and life savers. We're done. No more. I'm hoping that if I monitor his food intake tomorrow he will behave better. We'll see. I told Pammy that if Grandma had seen him tonight at the restaurant she would have had heart failure. It was hard for me. Well, tomorrow is a new day - with no mistakes in it.

Dutchie is doing so well! He's gaining weight, and Pammy and Chris are such awesome parents. I love watching them with him. I'm such a sap that it makes me want to cry, but I am just so impressed with them both. Nathanael loves Dutch, too, and holds him every chance he gets. He is so sweet with him. It makes me sad to think that it wasn't that long ago and he was my baby. Of course, he was never that little, but that's beside the point. I have loved every moment of being here. It makes me homesick, though, for having family close. And poor Nathanael thought that Marcus was going to be here, too, so that made me miss family even more. PA is beautiful, though, and I've loved the weather. It will make my hot humid Texas that much more difficult to come home to.