Today wasn't our best day. It wasn't the worst either but the 4 day streak of not going round with Diana ended today. Today Ken half carried, half drug her home from the park. As it turns out when they got here, she wasn't too bad. She took her discipline without too much fighting and as the rest of us were coming home from the park, they were actually on their way out to play more. We had lunch instead.
I changed the game plan with Yuli today. I broke out the sling and carried her in it pretty much the whole day except when I was in the bathroom or when we were at the park. When it was time for me to shower, she asked for Papi to hold her. That's a big plus but my back hurts. It seems to be helping, at least with the discipline problems. As it turns out, if she's hanging off my body, she can't get into much. I do really think she is stuck somewhere about two years old. At one point she told me that she wanted down to play with Diana. I was happy to have a break. About 20 minutes later, she came back, carrying the sling. Ken has been putting Diana, Yuli, and John to bed every night. The problem is that Yuli just wouldn't stop talking and you can't really force a child to stop talking unless you, well, even if you cover their mouths, they will still talk if they want to and you might end up suffocating them. So last night I told her that I would lay with her provided that she didn't talk and didn't play around. Guess what, she's asleep in 10 minutes or less which significantly cuts down on the length of time to get them all to sleep. Anyway, I'm pretty sure the new sling plan is going to work and help her... I'm going to be super strong by the time I get home.
John seems to be feeling better. He slept pretty well last night and ate well all day. He played at the park and seems to be in good spirits. Whatever it was, it was short lived and I'm thankful for that. We are just waiting to see if anyone else catches it. We had to cancel our plans on Monday as a result of his illness. We had been planning to go see Las Lajas Cathedral and I have been very much looking forward to it. I hope we can go soon. The redundant days are starting to wear on all of us.
Diana and I had another go round right before dinner. I really thought I was going to be eating my dinner sitting on my bed watching her but she pulled herself together after about 10 minutes. That was good. We are seeing a lot more grief from her and a lot less anger. I think that's a step in the right direction. Unlike Yuli, I actually think Diana likes us and is excited to finally have a family. She seems to really enjoy playing with the bigger kids rather than being the oldest all the time. She just misses her Tia, and she doesn't like our rules and structure... she really seems surprised that we consistently enforce the rules. I'm sure she's going to be fine. She does seem rather distraught over the fact that we homeschool. Every night at dinner she asks Patrice what school she will be going to and who her teacher in the Unites States will be. He tells her it's the best school of all and she is going to love it and Mami is going to teach her every day. She didn't actually believe him at first but now she belives him, she's just hoping for a different answer. She's not happy that's she's not getting one but we will cross that bridge when we come to it.
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