Forest drove her up here at lunchtime, and we all went to British Isles. They seemed to be getting along okay when they arrived, but a few minutes into waiting for our food, I had to stop Kirstin from crawling on the booth seat and barking like a dog.
What the hell was that all about? And then she glared at me, and said "WHAT?" as if she couldn't imagine having done anything wrong.
I about wanted to smack her, but I don't ever do that. Things like that make me wish I did, though! Then in the course of regular conversation she was shouting, and had to be reminded several times to lower her voice. That's not such a big deal.
Then there was the ordeal of getting her to eat; everything in restaurants is always too hot for her, so she insists on picking away at it until you inform her that she must eat right NOW in your best parental tones.
I wish she'd try to relax and enjoy it when we get time together. Instead, she purposefully degrades to getting attention in inappropriate ways. To end the meal, she started to lie down on the bench, looking straight at me, purposefully waiting for me to say something to her. It's infuriating as all hell.
Later, Forest revealed that while he had her this afternoon she was alternately wonderfully behaved, then terrible, and nothing in between. Then she took a 45-minute nap that seemed to help matters... but when they came by here, she whined because she had to wash her face.
It just doesn'tseem to get any easier.
Now she's off to her violin lesson, where I hope she won't mouth off to her teacher, and then she's going to play with Alex, where I hope she won't be a complete pain in the ass.
I love her, but you sure can't tell from this entry, because she's driving me insane.
Ah, well, tomorrow afternoon she'll be going to the zoo with my sister. Maybe she doesn't know how to provoke Karen yet.
Last night she behaved pretty well while we were at her choir party, and was even rather pleasant all the way to her nice, early bedtime. We finished reading the first book in the Book of Three together, finally! I can't wait to start the next one. Those are fun stories.
Other than frustration with Kirstin, I'm doing pretty well. Bill, Kathy, Forest and I are going to meet on Friday to try to determine what a good custody arrangement for Kirstin might be, since she has complained that her current arrangement makes her feel like she doesn't have a home. I'm somewhat dreading it, and am reluctant to change things. This has been the way we've done it for nearly 5 years, and I'm not sure changing the routine is going to help when she's seeking stability in her life.
Then again, if the current way is making her unhappy, then we have to change it, don't we? Anyway, I don't know what will come of it. There's a chance Bill will become her full-time custodian, and I'll only see her every other weekend. We would do that because Bill works at home, Kathy is home too, and there is always someone there with Kirstin after school gets out. She would also get more time with her brother, and her cousins next door. It's an ideal situation, except that I would miss her, and I think she would miss me.
There's also a chance that we'll switch houses every other month instead of every other week, giving her more time to settle in before picking up and moving around. That should mean she at least has a chance to know where her shoes are monthly, instead of having to figure it out weekly. It's something.
If we change anything, I'm going to suggest we wait until after she gets back from camp. My mom has planned the first part of her summer around Kirstin's schedule, and I think it would be nice to not screw that up.
