A Set-back

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The other day I found myself thinking that Chelsea had been pretty well-behaved lately. No episodes of incontinence, no eating of toys, no pulling the hair out of her dolls, nothing out of the ordinary for any kid. I met with her teacher a couple of days ago and she told me how much she had matured and how much better her behavior had been lately. Right about the time I started feeling pretty good about seeing results of our hard work...major backslide! I got some pudding out to put her pill in. After she took her pill, a customer needed taken care of (we own a greenhouse). I left the pudding sitting out on the counter. When I came back, she had eaten it with her hands like some kind of feral creature. She knows that she is not to touch food on the counter without asking. I won't go into the places she puts her hands, but I don't want them in food I'm planning to eat. Well, fairly minor transgression, so I just scolded her and reminded her of the rule. She pouted for a minute, then went back to watching a movie. A little while later, I gave her a plate of ravioli for supper. Another customer wanders in and I go out to tend to them. About 15 minutes later I went back into the house to find my while dog's neck encircled in spaghetti sauce. Chelsea has hurt our dogs before, and we have a solid rule about touching the dogs without an adult in the room. I suppose I needed a rule specific to choking the dogs. Needless to say, I was furious...and Chelsea is grounded. I don't think it will ever really get better, it just abates for awhile and then comes back with a vengeance.