"Mine" is lost

The latex soothing device, shown here in Elijah's mouth, is gone. We are glad it is gone since he is way too old for it. He doesn't think so, however, and has been in mourning for 12 or more hours. We have to call it the LSD because if we call it by any of it's real names, he falls apart and starts searching under the furniture and wailing"Mine, Mine". He calls it his Mine which is very close to My Precious of Hobbit fame. He has the same feelings for it that Gollum had for the Ring, I'm afraid. We lost a lot of sleep because of it last night. I will try and not make the rest of the family suffer because of it today and will try to remain cheery and optimistic in spite of the mournful toddler and my lack of sleep.
My NewYears resolutions are going to have to include scout merit badges in home repair. We now have one toilet with a broken seat and no lid on the tank (the boys) and the other one is leaking. Both bathroom sinks have one side that won't turn off properly, both shower handles spray water when turned on, and the outside faucets are starting to leak. Yesterday when the boys went to the attic looking for Christmas lights, the attic stairs broke and one got stranded up there. I thought about just leaving him there, but it wasn't the boy that I wanted to lock up. Now the trap door is hanging part way open. It's a good thing we have wood heat and needed to let extra smoke out. I guess some parts of a house are only good for about 10 years.
The boy I wanted to put in the attic and leave there has been on the edge of breakdown for a while but we haven't had any repeats of being held hostage in the house from barages of rocks for quite a while. I have gotten tougher about consequences, leaving him in his room for 3 or 4 hours and if it was during meal time, only pbj and water to eat. For an easily bored and always hungry boy, I think it has worked much better than the extra work that I had tried before. He loves work and it was more of a reward. Boredom and non- exciting food have worked better as punishment for his violent behaviour.
Holidays always bring out weird behaviour in my adopted children. It doesn't matter if it's a birthday or Christmas they all act out in one way or another. I think it brings back memories or makes them insecure because they don't have a history of good memories, I don't know, but it is always a rocky time. Add to that, this is our second Christmas without Daddy, and all of them have a little emotional volatility. Still haven't decorated the Christmas tree or done any more preparations. Everyone is having fun thinking about it, anyway, and enjoying the search for lights and stuff. I think the boys would have lights hung over the entire acre and a half if they could find enough lights and drop cords. TGIF.