I talked to Amanda's teacher and she is meeting with all of the 4th grade girls in her class and the teacher's class that she team teaches with over lunch today with the school social worker. They are planning an end of the year "we've noticed some bad behavior" problem solving talk that won't single out any one person. That's good. I hope it helps.

That being said, she went on a sleepover Friday night with a friend from our old neighborhood. The mom paid for them to stay at Holiday Inn and swim, etc. I was at the hospital with Zoe the next day when the mom showed up at our door, screamed at my mom, threw Amanda's things in the doorway and left. Shocked Apparently, another girl from the neighborhood had showed up and had invited both my daughter and the girl she was spending the night with to the movies....Amanda wanted to go, and the other girl didn't. Amanda called my husband and asked for permission...and...my daughter left her sleepover to go to the movies with someone else. Shocked Embarassed

I tried to use this as a real learning exercise, but truthfully, I just wanted to ring Amanda's little neck. She honestly didn't seem to care much....sigh....

Sunday when I was at the hospital, my mom was watching the kids (Thomas worked all weekend) and Alex (age 7) and our 5 year old neighbor got onto Thomas' computer and were looking up Legend of Zelda videos....They came across....well, what else...PORN videos with Link from the Legend of Zelda. Apparently, while my mom innocently sat in the living room Alex educated the neighbor boy on the "f" word (in the video) as well as providing sex ed. Rolling Eyes

So...the boy went home to his mom (crazy neighbor) and told her everything....Their dad decided that his children were no longer allowed to have contact with MY children....but the mom decided to call and talk to me instead. At least she got THAT part of parenting right since she doesn't seem to be able to manage anything else including keeping her 5 and 4 year olds at THEIR house.....

I was, of course, mortified and I talked to Alex....who swore it was innocent and that they were looking for "Link movies" and had come across this one. I believe him since he is so limited in his experience with the computer and was using Thomas' computer for the first time. It isn't protected by Net Nanny....I still took away his game cube and made him go up to bed...and he was devastated.

Then, as I was talking to crazy neighbor again on the phone she was asking her 5 year old about all of this...the child was confessing to doing many of these things on THEIR computer at home and dad was in the background telling him to be quiet and telling him it wasn't true....Rolling Eyes whatever. In any case, the computer, gamecube and basically any form of entertainment in this house is just simply off limits now.

But...for the love of all that is good and HOLY...is it POSSIBLE for things to NOT fall apart in my absence?

Zoe is still a "feeder and a grower" but she doesn't actually want to do the feeding part. Rolling Eyes We sometimes manage to get her to take a bottle, but she sleeps through the experience while we massage her chin and cheeks....which seems strangely, strangely bizarre to me. Why force it if she isn't ready? At the same time, I'm willing to force it because I just want her to get the hell out of there!

Of course, things could be much worse! Friday night I was there when a 37 weeker came in...they closed my curtains and I could hear what sounded like crying non-stop from this baby...I was beside myself that they didn't comfort him...and then they opened my curtains....The nurse was standing next to him rubbing/patting him in a comforting way...the maoning/crying was actually his attempts at breathing. cry After an hour of listening to him struggle, I went home...it was so sad.

The next morning when I came in, they had a transport team there. The baby basically was dying and they were trying to stabilize him for transport to the cities. The whole family was gathered at the bedside and they closed all of our curtains to give the family privacy. The mom began sobbing...and she sobbed "no, please...no" off and on for the good part of 2 hours. I didn't feel like I could leave because the transport isolette and family was blocking the whole exit...so I just sat there, held Zoe and cried because I felt like I was experiencing this babie's death with his mother. I think all of the parents stuck in the NICU were feeling quite...devastated...with this family. It took them several hours to stabilize baby enough to move into the trasnport isolette.

Later, I pieced together what had happened...baby had developed sepsis from strep....and was in shock. Mom had tested negative for strep before delivery, but.....apparently...she wasn't....Baby was transported, I assume, because they don't do dialysis here on neonates.

I heard he is doing better.....I need to count my blessings that Zoe's stay has been relatively uneventful...this is a good reminder.