squirt, sending hugs your way. I'll commiserate with you. The kids were crazy when they got home from school today, and I just don't know what to do with DS5 (this is the one without the LDs). He thinks it's funny to push my buttons and to tease everyone around him. He knows when he's behaving badly and does it anyway. He called me something like poopyhead, and then laughed when I got angry (after I had yelled at him for calling someone else a similar name). Grrrrr... Usually these things happen when I'm holding the baby and trying to get a thousand other things done. Then when I tried to sneak off and get the baby to bed quietly (which took longer than I had hoped), chaos reined in the other room - I had wanted them to take baths. DS2 was supposed to be in the bathtub with DD7, but instead he was naked sitting on the wet counter playing in the sink, DS5 (one with LDs) was playing in the other sink, and DS5 (the one pushing my buttons) wanted to make his sister mad so while she was in the tub he took all the books off her bookshelf and put them on the floor of his room, running back and forth with that evil giggle (I heard it while I was trying to get the baby to sleep - I knew it was a bad sign). It was a huge mess. I could not put into words how mad I was. He did get a spanking, and he did put the books back in her room after getting yelled at, but I had to rearrange them on the shelves. Spanking doesn't seem to do much to him (and time outs are useless). One thing I happened upon, almost by necessity to drag him to a time out when I'm holding the baby, is that I pull him up by his very short hair - I started doing that when he refused to stand up and I couldn't bend down. Now he knows what's coming so at least I get a limited amount of obedience when I threaten to do that. The shame of this bad streak is that often times he's my most helpful child. I can't figure it out, but in his case it's a very typical boy thing - I remember my brothers teasing alot. I can't believe I even threatened to wash his mouth out with soap...
I recently started a chart of points for computer time (I think someone on this board suggested it?) and it worked great the first day. Unfortunately, the magic has worn off when it comes to getting points for getting ready for bed. For the second night in a row, DD7 was the only one who got points. DS5 won't even do piano for points - I will have to drag him to the piano tomorrow and stand there the whole time he practices.
The physical affection suggestion sounds good; I'll try that, though it might be tricky - for DS5 the timing will have to be right, I think (he's the type to push me away).
Speaking of which, tonight's bedtime exhausted me and I need to get some sleep...
