ZRT

Last week the boys and I were on our own again since Ben's work trip was 2 weeks long this time. It was obvious that the boys were missing him by Monday because their behavior took a huge turn for the worse. I have started to really work hard on being consistent with discipline and rewards in order to get a better handle on the out of control behavior and tantrums we are dealing with. Anyways, here are some pictures from our week...

On Monday I took the boys to see the movie Rio which was really cute. They love going to the movies and behaved pretty good that morning. We were the only people in the theater until a few other small groups showed up just as the movie started.

Once we got home their behavior took a dramatic turn downhill though. I pretty much lost my patience with the boys and told them I was going to bag up all of their toys. I had them sit in time out while they watched me put them all in bags and move them all to my bedroom. I told them they would get them back once they showed me they could listen, behave, and act like big kids. I was shocked when this didn't really elicit any type of reaction from them, good or bad. Once I was done Zak even went into Ryder's room and pointed out to me that I forgot to take away the blocks which were in the drawer! They did get all of their toys back, but not for a few days.

The next 2 pictures I find very funny. I was driving home from running some errands with Zak and all of a sudden he started to scream and go crazy which caused me to almost drive off the road. Once we got to a red light I turned around and discovered a stink bug had crawled onto his car seat which set him off. He is not a big fan of bugs so this was definitely an ordeal for him.

The boys like to play around with my shoes. This day they both wore them around for a bit and then Zak tried to tie the shoe laces which was pretty funny.

Ryder came home from school with a very cute Mother's Day gift for me. There was a card with a poem on the front and then a little flower pot with flowers made out of his hand prints.

The boys got a new gift from Grammy (my mom) on Thursday. I will explain the reasoning at the end of the post, but they got a dual screen DVD player for the car. They got to watch a movie while making the drive to pick Ben up from the airport on Friday and loved it.

Today we had lunch with Nanny & Poppy then came home and did some work in the backyard. Ben got the grass mowed which is needed extremely badly. There are still a few holes and lots of mud though which Zak found out the hard way while playing in the yard. The boys have been begging to play in the backyard so we are hoping to get it back into decent condition so that is possible.

Today Ben was shocked at the bad behavior Ryder was showing. He was pretty much misbehaving all day which has become the norm unfortunately. We do have a referral put in by his developmental pediatrician for a behavior therapy program to call and set up an appointment. We also want to talk with them about his bad reactions and anxiety over his weekly infusions which have become a battle as well. So when Ryder got into one of his massive tantrums we had to isolate him into Zak's bedroom (less stuff in there to get into). It took him a while to calm down, but I continually checked on him. One time I discovered he had ruined the blinds! At that point we moved him to his bedroom which is where he finally calmed down.

Now about the DVD player for the car...

A little over a week ago we got an e-mail from Ben's father saying there was going to be a 99th birthday party for his great-grandmother. Ben and I discussed it and decided it was way too short notice and not financially possible for us to make the trip to Maine along with the fact that Ben had just been away for 2 weeks. Then last week Ben called and said he had talked to his dad and changed his mind about going. It did cause some major stress and argument between Ben & I for various reasons. A lot happened in a very short period of time, but in the end it looks like we will be going to Maine. We plan to leave about midnight Friday (May 13) and get to Maine hopefully around lunchtime on Saturday. The party is on Sunday and then we will leave Maine and head home Monday morning which should get us back home very late Monday night. We will be staying in a 1 bedroom cottage (at a motel in Maine) with a full kitchen and plan to try and take most of our food to reduce expenses. Ben's father is going to be helping out with money for gas and some of the cottage expense which will help. The dogs will be staying with Rich & Laura which we know Robin will be extremely excited about because she will get to play with Sam (their dog). I plan to drop the dogs off there sometime during the day on Friday and they will bring them home on Monday. I do not do well with car trips so this whole thing is very stressful for me, but I know it means a lot to Ben. I am hoping the boys will do good with this trip because we know Ryder has some issues with changes in schedule and large groups of people. The plan is for Ben to go back to work Tuesday morning and Ryder to go to school on Tuesday also.