Am I Woman Enough?

My daughter is EVER getting into crap.  Ever, ever, ever.  Her brother has never quite been able to match her, er… talent (tenacity?)… for mess making (PRAISES!) and to be honest, I think that’s exactly the way she wants it.  For years, we’ve been trying to keep her out of the DVDs unless we’re there beside her to show her how to treat DVDs with the respect they deserve.  If we’re not right there and she’s bored, she’ll help herself every time.  The aftermath is a true constant in my life: mayhem, scratched DVDs, a myriad of empty cases (a few of which are whimpering in pain from having their paper covers violently RIPPED from their lazy “protective” plastic covers), and a scattered pile of uncovered DVDs sitting on the floor in front of my daughter.

It never makes for a particularly close bonding moment for us.  Every time it happens, I get mad.  I swat her on her bottom and sent her to bed, like a good mother would.  A few days later, we’d go through it all again.  A few days later?  Again!  We’re both getting rather good at our parts.  A few weeks ago, I think I was really missing a certain kind of passion in my character.  Adding it has enhanced the overall performance nicely.  And really, as much as I complain about our little routines, I think I secretly enjoy them.  I must!  Or I’d do something that would really put an end to them!

My husband, on the other hand, doesn’t share my sentiments and in a fit of glorious passion -It nearly moved me -GROUNDED Lacy, who had two little ankles absolutely swimming in DVDs. The verdict? No movies for TWO DAYS. To which I replied, “DAD!  WHY?!  YOU DON’T LOVE ME!”

And then we all went to bed early because we all had to get up early to make it to the city for doctor visits.  And in my blissful trip to the city -grand host of my favorite fabric store -I completely forgot about last night’s incident.  Even as I pulled into the driveway and unloaded my happy bag full of CUTE (soon to be aprons!) fabric, I was in Heaven.  My husband hugged us all goodbye and headed to work.

He turned in the doorway and said, “Remember…today is Day 1 of no movies.”  He pointed at the girl.   My jaw dropped, my eyes widened, my bottom lip quivered.

“But… DAD!” I whined.
“No movies,” he repeated.

Validate me: isn’t he being a little unreasonable?! I mean… I didn’t even get a WINK of notice! Then *BLAM!* my alone time and sanity was chucked out the front door by the ONE MAN who promised NEVER TO DO EVIL UNTO ME!
Wretch that I am, I will sack up. As best a woman can, I mean.

Anyway, he did tell me to try going outside and doing yard work with the kids. So fine. I’ll show him! Have you ever tried to do yard work in the wind with two little kids begging you to turn over rocks so they can hunt “matado” bugs but end up finding CENTIPEDES instead?! HUH?! Bloody ridiculous.
But I’ll do it.
And then he can help me with the dishes when he gets home. Cackle, cackle.
Now… who wants to keep the kids out of the movies while we wash enough dishes to make dinner?

Comments

  1. How ironic, my husband just banned Maya from television for two days. It’s not fair. What did I do to deserve this punishment??? Anywho-I just wanted to let you know I feel your pain.

  2. Yup, know how you feel. That’s why we have our DVDs in a locked cabinet these days!! At least you’ll have enough time to get those aprons done ;)

  3. Ohhh, boy. Interesting, isn’t it, how punishments are just as hard for the parents as they are for the kids?
    And good luck with the yard work. It’s amazing how trying to do ANYTHING with kiddos underfoot is so hard, isn’t it…especially with the lovely Northern Arizona wind?
    Lacy and Jack sound just like two peas in a pod. He LOVES getting in the DVDs. Something that I did to try to keep him out of them is put all of our DVDs into two huge CD cases (you know the ones–that look like books), then keep those cases in a cabinet with an intense child lock on the handles. I don’t know if Lacy can get past those things yet, but it’s been a help. Sometimes, however, I accidentally leave the CD books out, and then…mayhem. But just an idea.

  4. We’ve definitely been through the DVD problem. I thought they would NEVER learn they weren’t allowed to touch them (because Reilly was always pretty good at it, and usually DID do it just right, but Jaina was another story) but they finally did. They almost never change it themselves now. It is super frustrating though, and I feel your pain! When our kids don’t get to “play games” (the computer) because they haven’t gone to bed well or something, I groan inside!

  5. You should have made her sit in the toilet room for 2 days.

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