ho ho ho

 humdrum!

Try as I might I just can't get into the spirit of Christmas this year.  It seems it is just coming way too quickly and I just haven't gotten started with decorating a tree, doing any real shopping, etc...

Part of it could be the parental responsibilities of parenting Isabella, who seems to be out of control here lately, and really trying my patience.  Half the time I feel as though if there were a man in the house, her little fit throwing and shenanigans would stop!  Maybe this year I need to work on finding that partner!

Her brother is in foster care and she only sees him on Tuesdays, with of course, her parents, other set of grandparents, and all the attention is not focused on her, but on her brother, who this past Tuesday received gifts of a Nintendo DS and four brand new games, while she observed that nothing was given to her.  Well, the acting out was horrible, and despite my bringing this to her attention, she continued in the behavioral warp.  Once home, she was reprimanded to her room.  Later on that week, she decided that instead of doing her homework she would tear it up in a gazillion pieces (well maybe not that many) so she wouldn't have to do it.  Rather, she had to pieced it together with tape, finish the homework in its entirety and turn it in to her teacher Friday.  I can only imagine what she told her teacher happened to that homework packet! 

Her parents fail to recognize that her behavior on that Tuesday was because of their actions as well, bringing "guilt gifts" into the Social Svcs office at visitation time.  It turned visitation into a carnival of videogames, which was absolutely absurd.   Isabella has already had to endure the fact that her mother did go to court and obtain custody of Wyatt back a year or so ago, without trying to obtain custody of her back.  I guess they really don't think about Isabella's emotional health.  I do have her in counseling, but even the counselor was surprised to see her act out in such a way, and wondered if perhaps there was a disorder going on.  I will probably have to take her for psychological testing even though we both feel this is not a disorder but rather a behavioral issue to be dealt with head-on.  She was grounded this weekend and yesterday she had a fit, made plans to spend the night with a friend behind my back mind you and despite knowing she was grounded, but I stood my ground and she stayed home.  Its a tough job being a good kid.  :)

Its even harder to parent a good kid who really wants to be bad. :) have mercy!