Social Skills Event

Tom and I try to take turns being calm and patient with the girls. When I’m at the end of my rope and about to tie it into a noose, he’s calm and relaxed, able to joke around to bring me out of my frustration.

Last night when I got home, he was the one who’d just about had it with Olivia. She’s in an arguing phase, as in, every single thing someone says has to be met with an argument from her. It’s infuriating and yet, at times, amusing. But we absolutely have to be in the right frame of mind to find her near-constant arguments amusing. I told Tom four years ago when Olivia was five that at some point, the arguing was going to stop being cute. Did he believe me? Nope.

And here we are.

So yes, he was annoyed with her last night and I had to break it to him that we are having guests in the form of a twelve year old girl and an eight year old girl over on Saturday afternoon. These girls are also spending the night with us that night.

Tom feels like until Olivia is feeding herself consistently and not arguing as much, she should have friends over.

Except…that seems mean. I mean, let’s work on one thing at a time and to take away friend time, something she NEEDS, feels excessive.

I suggested to him that instead of thinking of it as giving in to her desire to have friends over, which, to me, is a huge accomplishment on her part, he should think of it as Social Skills Therapy. Yeah, that’s how we’ll frame it. Having a typical peer over for several hours and into the night will be good for Olivia. She needs to be around her peers more, to talk to them, to interact with them, to learn from them.

So tomorrow night, we are not having a sleep over; no, not at all.

We’re having a social skills event. And everyone is going to be happy and have a fabulous time, damn it.