Some progress

Destroyer always eats very slowly, so when I was getting ready to take them for their daily ride, I saw she had half a sandwich and all of her cucumber left to eat. An hour after it had been served up to her.

A little impatient with this, I told her she couldn’t get a treat while we were out if she didn’t eat. Cue half an hour of weeping as we rode out on our bicycles, and a lack of sympathy from me. After yesterday when she got her own way by crying, I didn’t want to reinforce this.

Still, I don’t want our rides to be utte misery, so we pulled up after we’d gone about twenty blocks, had some water and I gave her a hug, before we continued on. We passed a lemonade stand and I agreed they could have some, if they were good. First, we rode down to the cafe near her old preschool, and she perked up. La Serpiente came inside with me (she had brought her mask) and Destroyer talked to her through the window. Both were calm.

We rode back up the hill, me riding my bike one handed while drinking my coffee, everyone had lemonade and the day was calm, and I congratulated myself on not losing my temper.

Then we got home and Destroyer spent the afternoon screeching, while I struggled with complex data. Which was lovely. Tomorrow is the first day of La Serpiente’s second grade education. Hours of iPad time await…