School

I'm not sure what is going on, but for the past few weeks, I have been getting calls once or twice a week from Lonnie's teacher because Lonnie is refusing to do any work in class.   They changed her class and teacher after the Christmas break and I think the change is really stressing her out.   I also think her new teacher is a bit over her head in dealing with Lonnie.   I mean what do you do with a child who refuses to do her school work and the only reason you can get out of her is "I'm scared"?   At home, I talk to her about how she has to do her schoolwork if she wants to be a veterinarian or dog trainer and she says "I can't, schoolwork is scary".   I have resorted to threatening to remove privileges like computer time or DVD's if she does not do her work, but it does not have much effect.    I need to come up with something motivating.   The "carrot on a stick" approach has always been more effective with Lonnie that punishments.  Ah, well...I'll think of something.

Lonnie's Birthday

Hard to get my head around but our miracle child just turned 13!  Her birthday falls during winter break so it's hard to get kids here for a party - so we had cake with family and took Lonnie bowling.   She really enjoys bowling and is getting pretty good, but she gets really frustrated when she doesn't knock down all the pins.

Lonnie picked out a "How To Train Your Dragon" design for her cake - she really likes the movie.   She got the DVD for Christmas and watches it almost everyday.

Christmas

Christmas day was nice - we kept things kind of low key. Lonnie got mostly arts & crafts kits and some stuffed animals.

We went to my sister's to eat in the afternoon...lots of good food and good company.

Holidays

It seems like Thanksgiving & Christmas went by in a blur this year. We got a Christmas dress for Jenny.  She seemed to enjoy wearing it - prancing around.

Lonnie had some rough days, mostly stressing out when routines got changed.  Although she enjoyed her winter break, starting back to school was really tough.  She would wander around the classroom and refuse to do work - telling the teacher "it was scary".