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Home › Diaries › June's › November 4, 1999

June's Diary Entries

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November 4, 1999


Today my daughter did not wear her overalls. (First time in over two weeks!) My husband said, "It's time to wear something else." He was not going to take her to school unless she found something else. She started the usual crying and whimpering.

I went up and suggested a new pair of black pants I bought her (I actually picked them up at a secondhand store. This way, they would be worn in a little and not so stiff like a new pair can be.) -- exactly like her old favorite ones with the hole. I asked her to just try them for the fun of it.

I had an idea. I started to put them on her and she started to wiggle and complain. Then I told her I tricked her. I had switched them with the old pair. I said, "Now you can see that it's maybe not how they feel but what you think of the clothes before you even try." With that making her smile, she tried the new pair -- she still wiggled -- and I pretended I was her gym teacher.

"Downstairs and give me laps," I said. She had to follow along, and if she still felt the same way in 10 minutes, she could go back to the overalls and deal with Dad. I made her run laps: "Drop and do five!" and do jumping jacks. She complained until my other two were giggling and joining in. At the end of the 10 minutes she said she was willing to try them, but if when she got home from school she still did not like them, she could get rid of them for good. I agreed. Needless to say, I said nothing about them, and she wore them till bedtime.

The only disappointment to the day was my first visit to a therapist. She is a family counselor, and she was the only professional I could get in to see right away. I wanted to find out if what I have been doing is right. I also wanted some other strategies that might worked based on cases they may have had similar to mine. $75.00 and one hour later, I felt disappointed. We spent a lot of time talking about family structure and history, and she said my daughter sounded like she suffers from "Obsessive Compulsive Disorder." I have had that strong feeling for the last couple of weeks. She could not offer any advice to me, but was really pushing me to book Chanel into weekly sessions starting next week. These sessions had to be before 5:00 p.m. Mondays to Fridays. Home alone with three kids and a half an hour drive from this place, this would be a major undertaking. I have another cognitive therapist I have spoken to on the phone who does one-on-one therapy in the home and has worked primarily with OCD children. He is less expensive and a lot more flexible. I will let you know what next steps we take.

Jesse is acting better then he ever has now and Devin can cheer anyone in the house up. I have also picked up from the library the video" 1-2-3 Magic" today. It looks very reasonable. Has anyone else tried this method?

Still no name for my active baby coming soon! I would be happy to hear from any of you on suggestions.

Till next week...keep smiling!

June



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