Today was our last home visit with our family. They didn’t seem to be too put out by that news-but they were pretty well-adjusted to begin with. Today we worked on homework with Momma D and R. R is so squirrelly, it really tried my patience today. Sometimes it’s hard to not go into babysitter mode. I noticed an interesting dynamic today: While in a bedroom with Momma D and R, R would act up, not do his work and just be silly while Momma D (his grandmother) was trying to do her work as well. She would say something to him but almost instantly call S, her 15 year old son to get R to behave. I thought that hierarchy was interesting. The 15 year old uncle had more disciplinary sway than the grandmother did. Could that be just the oldest-male-rules type of structure?
I also had my first in-person experience with bed bugs today. yikes. I think the warmer weather or humidity brought them out. We went the whole semester without actually seeing any, or bites on our family. I spotted one walking along a picture frame next to me (which I squashed), then when we were doing homework on the floor, I spotted a little semi-translucent baby one (which I also squashed). It was a little unnerving but the family had never mentioned that they had a problem and they (mostly S) make a large effort to keep the apartment clean. Hopefully it doesn’t become a problem for them. And hopefully I didn’t bring home any hitch hikers!