Name Calling

Ok, I've had it. Today, after karate practice Alan and I run up to the grocery store to pick up a few things. He argues with me about his choice of cereal, swearing he didn't pick the Cheerios I bought last time. I told him he was wrong and he continued to argue. Then I told him that he will no longer be choosing cereal anymore - I will do it and he will have no choice at all if he continues to disagree with me.


We move on down to the bread aisle where Alan accidentally bumps into a lady. I told him to be more careful with the cart as he hit the lady. He denies doing any such thing. I SAW IT WITH MY OWN EYES and yet Alan said he didn't do anything at all. I tell him how tired it is to hear him lie to me. He calls me stupid.


That's it.


I tell him he's no longer getting a thing from me, he will not call me names and I will not take any more of his lies. I hand him the root beer he wanted and tell him to put it back. I then walk off to finish my shopping. He's no where to be found, not that I'm looking for him.


He asks if he can help carrying the bags. I say no, I don't need help from lying boys like him. I also tell him I'm not feeding him anything except tea and toast. He eats lunch at school, so he better make it a meal, I'm not feeding him at home. He's to stay in his room, eat and do homework there. I don't want to see him. I won't take him anywhere with me, he won't see his friends, I could give a rat's ass if he does his homework.


I'm so fed up with his attitude that he should receive and not give at all. He can't say a good word to Grace (Grace can't either, and I'm working on her too) or me. He thinks he deserves everything. He has exactly two chores - feed and water the dogs, and crush cans. That's not asking for a lot.


I also got after Grace too. She's been on a tear yelling and screaming at us all. I made some Weird Al CDs and they've already lost track of one. Grace couldn't find her library card nor her swimming pass. Plus I don't know what websites she's been to, but there was some program that constantly threw up pop up ads to where they filled the window. It took me two days to get rid of the thing. At least I think I got rid of it.


What's worse is that I feel like shit now.

Beligerant

I'm getting frustrated again. When Alan was very young he had this 'game' where you couldn't do anything fast enough to suit him. When you did do something for him, he'd then turn away as if it weren't good enough. He's doing it again. A couple of times this week he would ask a question that I needed to think a bit and when I began to think he'd cut me off and say "forget it." And when I couldn't come to his aid soon enough (for him), he'd turn away and say "nevermind" Once he had some gift in his hand which he denied me. It was a photo of the two of us at school.


I'm not ignoring him. I'm usually busy putting up trash, cleaning dishes, or something and it takes a bit of time to finish that and come to Alan to see what he's wanting. A time or two I've told him to wait and let me finish, but that also disturbs him and results in the same behavior.


Homework is still achore, but he's getting better at it. I continue to find the TV remote in his hands despite the countless times I've told him he's not to touch it and there will be no television on school nights. I've already taken the habit of hiding the DSS access card so he can't watch it while I'm at work.


Will this ever end?


On a brighter note, he is doing pretty good at school. It is 75% of the semester and he has 6 points (an S). Last year, he'd be at 11, which is an N. So that's a full letter grade up in behavior! I'm extremely happy about this, even though Alan is disappointed. He so wants to be a patrol next year. He knows to be nominated he has to have 5 or less points each semester. Blowing it by a point now (and probably a few points in the coming 2 weeks) would put him out of the running for patrol. But I told him if he keeps up the S he and a friend can play one game of LaserQuest on me.