Summer Sun

We have been doing a lot of hanging out in the Summer sunshine. While I miss my rainy home state I can't say that I don't love the sunshine we have around here. Kids have been happy with the pool time we have been able to have lately. Thankfully we have good friends with great pools.

Swim lessons start Monday for Meg. She's committed to finally getting her whole face in the water. We will see. She's taken level 2 lessons the past two years and will again this time. If she can get her face in the water she passes to level 3. Wish us luck.

After this fun afternoon in the pool I had to drag her out. For real. Then she screamed the entire way home that she wasn't done and wanted to go back. Then she moved on to screaming that she didn't like me for making her do other things she didn't want to do. The yelling and screaming escalated for a long time. I was looking up airfare for unaccompanied minors to Grandma's house. I miss having Grandma's close. Or sisters. And then I looked up parenting groups. In the end she stayed in her room yelling all night to no one, but she didn't stop. Around 9:30 she fell asleep. Thankfully. Any ideas for me?

As an aside... a trip down memory lane. I remember being young, probably between 6-8 years old when my Aunt Lan pulled up her super cool station wagon in front of our house one day. She went to the back and pulled out a sheet that had some clothes or something wrapped up in it then opened the door and pulled out her oldest son who was also screaming bloody murder. She put them both on the lawn and got back in her car and left. I watched from the window upstairs. She didn't come to the door, didn't say hi, she just left. He stayed with us for about 2 weeks. Turned out that he had sawed off the legs of the kitchen table. He was safer with us. Some days I long to live near my sisters where my kids could maybe have a safe haven once in a while. Sometimes a change of scenery is all it takes to change an attitude.