Chicken Cordon Bleu, it’s what’s for breakfast…

No, most people know Chicken Cordon Bleu as a fancy dinner plate at some nice French restaurant—or other, but Meghan calls it breakfast.

I know, I know, I’m raising a princess; but she was just so good all week—no outbursts, no hand biting, no bouts of destruction of any kind—you might be thinking “Miracle on 34th Street,” but, no, it was more like “Holly Golightly Does Vacation” (home is like vacation for her) and she was good as gold and ecstatically happy and singing all week. (Note, some exaggeration in the previous.) She went back to school yesterday and seemed ready for it, too. Really! I didn’t have to pull and yank and bribe, and she was easy as pie (and ate pie, too) to motivate and get showered, dressed, and on her last morning (boy, I sound like she’s dying), enjoyed a different favorite for breakfast—pancakes. (And I never want to see Chicken Cordon Bleu for the rest of my life!!) After “pancakes” she waited for her bus to arrive, got on with a hop, skip and a jump (I’m exaggerating again) and even blew us a kiss (not exaggerating), and she was off to school until she comes back home for the weekend—in two weeks.

Wow, right!? But I’m no fool. I know this week was a good week because of Christmas and all the treats that she enjoyed, but she’s still demanding and quite a bit of work when she’s home. I hope that doesn’t sound cold, but I know my girl.

I’m just so glad that she enjoyed herself, and we enjoyed her, as well; these are the moments to remember and cherish—and they do come! And because it was such a successful week, it was sad for us on her last night home and knowing that she will be gone for another two weeks... I was sad and felt like crying as I snuggled with her underneath my bed comforter, while we watched a cartoon show that she likes, and I briefly thought to keep her home for another week—since Nick is home from school and her vacation is when we say it is… but, then, I quickly dismissed that thought with a wave of my hand, because I knew that a good week doesn’t mean another week would be good for Meghan.

So you might be wondering why just two weekends a month home for Meghan? We chose alternating weekends so that we could have more time with Nick on the opposite weekends—take weekend ski trips, sightseeing, hiking—these things aren’t so easily done with Meghan, nor does she like doing them. And in the past, we would have had to forgo trips to anywhere (or at least plan heavily around Meghan) for fear that she would be difficult or non-compliant (A plan B was always in the works!)—A lifestyle that was neither good for Nick nor offered him much of a life—or us, for that matter.

Two years ago in August, we took Nick to Vermont for a little weekend away (or one night, really). It was the first time we ventured without Meghan and I did feel a pang of guilt for keeping her with my parents and my brother, but it was for Nick and we enjoyed it tremendously. We even laughed about it; because what we ended up doing and visiting were things and places that we could never do or go with Meghan, like swimming in the river or watching glass blowers make fine glassware in their “factory” (as Nick called it) and above all, actually wandering through the glassware gallery and viewing all their work. Let’s face it, one tantrum with Meghan and we would have been writing GREAT BIG checks and banned for life with our mug shots posted in the gallery entryway (or posted up at the state line) looking like: Husband and me: crying because of big check writing; Nick: smirking and pointing to Meghan; Meghan: laughing hysterically, and, incidentally, the best darn photo that I would have ever seen of her… and Reading as caption: Crazy People Alert, Absolutely No Entry!!!!…

These are my daily thoughts in life by the way!!

So this schedule allows us to keep a good balance between the needs of both my kids, and Meghan seems to love it as well. She has so much going on at school with the activities there, she even has school on Saturdays—which she loves.

So that’s my story… and I’m sticking to it!!

School Vacation Week and Anticipating a Problem

Do any of you have trouble motivating your child to do things other than laying around the house in their pjs, watching too much TV and eating waaaaaaaay too much for their own good. If this is your kid (too) please tell me some of your strategies in getting them to get showered, brush their teeth and get dressed… and leave the bloody hell house…

We already use a social story but it’s the dragging and pulling and “working her” for hours that is the problem. The star reward system doesn’t work in our house…it only works at school where it’s extremely structured.

Then if we do eventually get Meghan out and drive to our destination, she won’t get out of the car—she’ll stay put if she doesn’t want to go in. She’s what you call stubborn, determined and sometimes even ((scary as hell.))

For instance, next week we have two events that we have to attend. One is my birthday lunch that I am inviting my family to enjoy with me at one of my favorite restaurants. The very last time we were there, Meghan scared the waitress, I won’t tell you what she did because it was kinda gross and very hard to write… but all of the food that the waitress was holding on her tray went crashing to the floor. Then she threw her coke in my father’s lap for no reason and then she tries to dirty her hands—anyway she can with food—so that I have to take her to the ladies room (for the 5th time) and that’s even scarier because she likes to clog up the toilets and make a flood—really, I will be in the same stall with her and be fighting her off from the toilet paper—people must think we’re nuts… At some point I just motion the bartender for a martini... and just start drinking the hard stuff.

And Christmas day we go to my parents’ house for dinner. If Meghan doesn’t want to stay there or is all done with the visit and we are not, then this clever girl starts breaking all things that are glass, porcelain, even china throughout the house. Last year, she starting plucking the glass ornaments from my parents’ Christmas tree and smashing them on the floor—how’s that for an attention getter? She’ll even go into the bathroom and unscrew the light bulbs and smash…I certainly don’t want to have to leave after her behavioral performances, to show Meghan that this tactic of hers will not work, but I can’t have her breaking things.

Do we sound dysfunctional? And I really have to say that moments like these really do make me appreciate my son, because he is so easy in comparison and I am really lucky and glad to have him.

I know this is a tough one, but any ideas to help make this week’s school vacation not so hard, loooooog and martini-drinking worthy?