The Honeymoon is Over

I was told that the kids would "honeymoon" for a few months. We've had Blondie and Bubbles for nearly four months now. Bubbles had quite a bit of trouble about six weeks ago, and it only lasted for a couple of weeks. She is now doing well in school again, and is behaving herself well at home. We are still working on her behavior at church. In addition, she has almost completely quit wetting the bed, with no medication and no pressure from me.

Blondie is now starting to act out more. On Saturday, and then again this morning, she threw a tantrum. It started with her leaving her jeans on the floor on Bubbles' side of the closet. She claimed that she had hung them up on Bubbles' side and then they fell off the hanger. I told her that wasn't true because they wouldn't have fallen where they were, and that she isn't supposed to hang her jeans on Bubbles' side anyway. Blondie proceeded to argue and lie to me, and then she yelled at me. I stayed calm and told her she would have to write sentences for each bad behavior she exhibited. She ended up screaming and I told her she would have to go into a far part of the house and she was free to come back when she could calm down.

She ended up having to make two trips away from us and after the second one I told her to get dressed for school. She came back down, still crying, and I told her that she could spend her last five minutes before school crying or eating her breakfast. She chose to eat.

She left for school happy, skipping and laughing.

And I'm an emotional wreck. She must have nerves of steel from everything she has been through in the past. I don't deal well with screaming and loud crying. I had to turn up the radio so I couldn't hear her, just to be able to function and make lunches for my kids. During all that time, I was worried that she wouldn't calm down in time for school. Would I have to stay home with her until the storm was over? Would I be late for work? Could she possibly be trying to hurt herself while I'm not looking? How often should I go check?

I'm glad she was able to leave happy and I really hope that the incident this morning doesn't cause her to have a bad day at school today. I know it will be hard for me.

I explained to her before she left how she had made the situation worse. She would only have had to write 25 sentences stating "I will hang up my jeans at bedtime."

Instead she also now has:

I will not argue with my mommy.
I will not lie to my mommy.
I will not yell at my mommy.
I will not cry loudly when I get in trouble.

I wonder how long it will take for her to start connecting her actions with her consequences.