Om nom nom.

[spritechan]

New LJ theme! Ahhhh, it feels so fresh and good! I also got a new mood theme, soooo cute! I barely even wanted to kill myself when trying to make the style work the way I wanted!

This weekend was pretty busy. On Saturday I went with Bethany and Cayden to our dad's house to hang out. His birthday party's next week and Bethany REALLY doesn't want to have two parties, but she doesn't know how to say that to Pam without offending her. She's adorable because she's getting her first apartment with Chris, Sarah, and Tony, and she's super nervous.

She's also continuing to have a lot of issues with our parents. She very vehemently wants them to be more involved with their grandson, but they're soooo not having any of it. They ask her to bring Cayden over but then don't really actively participate in entertaining him or otherwise taking care of him, and it really frustrates her. Bethany wants them to take Cayden overnight as he's one years old on Friday, but Cayden is so needy and apparently Mom's going through this selfish, attention-craving phase and can't manage it. Cayden is kinda scary because he needs to be held all the time basically or he cries. Bethany went for a cigarette when we were at Dad's and Cayden cried the entire time. He's afraid of pretty much everyone but his parents.

But I know he'd get over it eventually. I tried to make it clear to her that once Steve and I move into the apartment, I truly want to help her out by taking Cayden every so often. I think my parents have taken him overnight MAYBE twice. Once for sure. In the entire last YEAR. Otherwise I KNOW that I can count on my one hand the number of times they've watched him without her. I feel really bad, but I am also really proud of her and Tony for having the patience and strength to take care of such a needy kid, so much. They're very different than all the other young parents I know. James got Brittany pregnant again (this will be child #3) and they've left Aiyana and Lilly with Pam and Dad for many days at a time, fairly often, and James is almost 30 (Brittany's 21). I also want to just SEE him and not have him cry when I hold him, and I want my sister to be able to still be something of a kid.

Anyway, otherwise, I spent time with Steve playing games. I played a good chunk of FFVI and leveled a couple times in WoW to 66 :)

Comments

[chochajin.livejournal.com]

Ohyesh for nice and bright colors!!! ^-^

[silver-tiamat.livejournal.com]

So cute! Haha, Ghibli goodness! =D I really love Spirited Away. <3

I feel bad for Bethany--it cannot be a good feeling to have the sense that one's parents essentially reject one's child (because not only is it a rejection of someone she loves, but it can even feel like a rejection of her and who she is, i.e. Cayden's mother). But, as you and I both know, a lot of kids go through the whole Really Shy stage around 11-months to 2-years. Some are just shy kids, but others are kids who get shy, then get over it. A lot of child psychologists theorize that this is when the child becomes much more aware that there is a distinct separation between Adults Like Mom/Dad and Unknown Adults. And this frightens them. One of the best solutions to deal with it is to expose the child to other adults who show them love and attention, without aggression. It's a sad fact that your parents are probably making Cayden feel even more insecure, and increasing his sense that he was right to fear Adults Who Are Not Mom/Dad.

But, you might want to maybe suggest some reading material on dealing with children who display overly-needy tendencies to Bethany (including on finding ways to deal with his separation anxiety that is likely assuaged when he's held--such as the old standbys of leaving him, going into another room, and coming back, to show him that nothing really scary happens when Mom/Dad is gone--such as training him to hold onto an appendage (arm, leg, whatever), then a hand, then a finger, and so on).

However, once you move into your own place and have some more freedom to work with him yourself, I'm sure you'll help a lot! =D Maybe without the difficulties, your parents will be able to take more of an interest in their grandson. =)

[namidanotsuki.livejournal.com]

It freaks me out a little bit every time I think to myself that my mother had me at 22 and was married at 20. Most "modern" folk these days would, if I had done the same, think it tragic. I actually get a lot of strange looks when I tell people I got married at 22.

It kind of makes me wonder what we're doing to our own evolution by delaying the age of responsibility so much.

WoW saddens me at the moment. All of my friends are talking about moving over to Rift. It's all because they made healing suck in a huge way. Every healing class but priest is pretty much broken...