The Adventures of Adoption and Parenthood

I just finished reading The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I picked it up in the Tucson airport on the tail-end of a business trip so that I had something besides a business book to read on the plane. When I wasn't being pulled out of the book by her obvious wealth, which makes some of her Resolutions darn near impossible for most us, I found that I have been working on my own Happiness Project without realizing it. A few months ago, I began to notice that I was constantly yelling at the kids, constantly criticizing my husband or nagging him, constantly fretting over the state of the house, always on the go trying to get everything done all of the time. And this had been going on for who knows how long. I was sad because I didn't have any time to myself. I was overweight. I was unfit. I ate junk food every day. I never read. At my annual physical I talked to my doctor about my mental state because I wanted it to change. Doctor: Do you want help with your anxiety? Me:...

Prima is a People Pleaser. I'm trying to tame that a bit because I know that it will get her in trouble in the future. People Pleasers give away their belongings to their friends because their friends ask them to and they want their friends to be happy. People Pleasers have sex because their boyfriend or girlfriend asked them to and they want their boyfriend or girlfriend to be happy. Yes, that escalated quickly, but that's where we are headed. Yes, I know she is only six years old. Prima has a new found love of Pokemon that she acquired over the summer. She went to a Day Camp/School place that had students in her class ages 6 and up. There is a 9 year old girl who wants to trade Pokemon cards with Prima. We have banned Prima from trading. Why? Because she has no earthly idea how to play Pokemon although she thinks she does and will end up trading all of her great cards to the 9 year old who is itching to get a hold of my daughter's "Mega EX" cards (whatever tha...