Birthday

Okay, I'm so behind in my blogging. My internet has been down. I have it through the phone company and they said that if the problem was outside, then they would fix it for free, but if the problem is inside, then it's going to cost a lot of money. Forget it, I don't have that kind of money. So, I'm currently "borrowing" internet from a neighbor.

Anyway, Penelope's birthday was this past Thursday. We did a little family thing at my parent's house. It was myself, Penelope of course, my other brother (not Penelope's dad) and his wife and kids. I made the cake and my dad grilled some hamburgers and hotdogs. Penelope got some legos from her uncle and aunt. Her grandparents gave her some art supplies. My gift is art lessons once a week. I felt bad that I don't really have any money to get her anything but she was super great about it. She really liked the idea of art lessons. Even though I said every Saturday for 1 1/2 hours, she wanted the lessons to start the next day (Friday) and then on Sunday she said she wanted her next lesson on Monday.
She had a camping slumber party on Saturday night. She doesn't have a lot of friends right now, but of them two were able to make it. It went pretty well considering. She has had slumber parties for her birthday in the past but this is the first since "padora's box" had opened. (See earlier post) I was there to make sure everything went okay. I think my one big mistake is starting the party at a normal time and let them stay up late. I don't know if her friends would have understood having a slumber party that everyone had to go to bed by 10pm but that is what I should have done. My mom waited up with me. I could tell when Penelope's medication had worn off and it was time for her to take the meds she takes at night. She was acting really wild and just crazed. My mom kept telling me to let her be. But I was concerned about safety. I tried to explain it to her that "She is in full fledge crazy mode right now! No anti-psychotics, no mood stabilizers.. nothing." We were suppose to have a little camp fire to roast marshmellows and make s'mores. I set up the fire and layed out the rules for the girls about fire safety and molten marshmellows. We had just done this with Laurie the prior weekend and Laurie had educated Penelope about how dangerous marshmellows can be when they are heated over a fire. She did exactly what I told her not to do. Her marshmellow caught fire and she started swaying it back and forth trying to get the flame to go out. The problem was, her friends were in direct path of that marshmellow if it decided to slip off her skewer. Then she blew it out, which was another no no. The other kids felt very uncomfortable about witnessing Penelope totally disregard the rules. I didn't yell at Penelope but just took the skewer away from her and trashed her marshmellow. She said she didn't want a burnt one. I told her I would heat one up for her as soon as I was done with mine. She took attitude but I just changed the subject. But for her friends, it was already ruined and they were ready for bed. I had given Penelope her pills right before the campfire thing knowing it was going to take some time to kick in, but since it was a short-runned event she still wasn't ready for bed when the girls were and I think they were done with her by then. Morning was a little tense so we will see how her friendships are after a few weeks. Up until that night, the last few days, from Birthday until then, were very good. She was doing very well.
Things are going pretty good. I really think working in Laurie's yard was very therapudic for her. She grumbled a lot but she worked.. and I could see her get better as we went along. The true test is how she is when it's just her and I, and it really hasn't been much of that lately with her birthday and the yard work, camp and tutoring. We will see. Her dad wants to see her again.