The Good, The Bad, The Ugly, The Bitter

The Good:
For Spring Break, I took the kids out to lunch at a cool place I know of that serves grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.  Shared a cherry cobbler for dessert.  Also for Spring break, we spent yesterday together as a family in Saint Louis.  We had lunch at Sweetie Pie's.  It was great!  Grant had ribs, Husband had fried chicken (they are famous for it), Abbie and I shared fried catfish that made me want to swoon.  Everything we touched was delicious, and I had sweet tea.  Then, we went to the Museum of Fine Art.  A friend of mine met us there, and we had a great day.  No unpleasantness.  Just a few reminders not to run in the museum, or not to cross the lines, etc.  They liked the modern stuff more than I ever will, and the armor and mummy were, of course, great successes.  We came home in the evening, watched a little Myth Busters, and went to bed.


The Bad:
Before we left for Sweetie Pie's, the kids practiced music.  Grant has emotional trouble with that quite frequently, and yesterday was no exception.  I was able to talk him down, though, like I used to.  That was a relief.  We talked about things that he could do that would help.  Ways to think, too.  I encouraged him again to endeavor to control himself.  He recovered from that pretty well.  He also did okay when we had to clean the house quickly for the Realtors the other day.  Not great....but okay.  And since that it an improvement, I was starting to think things would be okay.


The Ugly:
Violence.  From Grant.  And saying horrible things.  Last night I caught him trying to kick Abbie.  He saw me before he made contact.  I didn't yell, but I explained that we would stop playing now, because that wasn't acceptable.  This morning Grant hit Abbie with a  door, and apologized immediately and loudly.  I didn't ask what happened, because I didn't want anyone to get attention from it, or learn that waking us up with fights is a good way to get something you want.  I set Abbie on the couch and told her that she was fine.  I sent Grant to finish his chores.  No yelling.  Went to explain the situation to Husband.  Suddenly, he remembered that a few days ago, Grant threatened to "hurt himself" because "no one cared".


Well, that kind of decides it, doesn't it?  Guess I'll start looking for someone to test Grant.


Husband claims he only says it for effect.  Of course he does.  He learned that from the softies at his school.  If you say something horrible, you get loads of attention and people go out of their way to make you feel better.  But it needs to be stopped before it becomes something else.  And it seems that he won't listen to me.  What option is there?


I wonder if we can afford this.


So, I'm done with asking YOU for help. Thanks for....making me fell like I'm at the bottom of a well talking to myself.