The birds, the bees, Dasha, and wine juice

Whew! I admit that I thought this would be an easy week since I only would have Annie to deal with from 10 - 3 each day. Ha! I forgot that one child can be just as demanding at 3! We dropped Dasha off at her camp this morning. She was so excited! Then, Annie and I went to DAC Kids in Acworth for a bit of play time. I was really hoping that she'd play until she dropped and then she'd wait to fall asleep until I got her home. At that point, I'd have at least two beautiful hours of me time! Um, that's a big a big NEGATIVE on that one good buddy, 10-4?

So, Annie started exploring and playing but without warning, Godzilla showed up. This Godzilla had long blond hair, an eight year old sister, and a mom who was more interested in her phone than her child. This blond behemoth first found Annie in the pirate bounce house. In one fell swoop, she put Annie to the ground like you see those creepy WWF guys do to each other. I was kind of wondering if this girl had a metal chair somewhere outside the bounce house that she was going to use in the next round. Annie quickly bounced back up but looked around a little addled. She's used to being the one in charge. I tried to let the incident go and give little Godzilla the benefit of the doubt. Nope. Wrong. She made a bee line for Annie again and knocked her to the floor. This time, she flung her entire body on top of Annie. Godzilla's older sister pulled her off of Annie and tried to convince her to be "nice." Ha! Annie ran over to the side of the bounce house and asked me to kiss her to make her feel better.  I wanted her to get out of the bounce house but I'd just paid $4 for her entertainment and by golly, Godzilla wasn't going to deprive her of it! As Annie started bouncing again, the little lizard literally jumped off of the side of the bounce house and slammed Annie to the ground. At this point, I was done. Three strikes and you're out! I crawled into the bounce house and began pulling Annie out. I didn't know if her screams were from Godzilla or from me pulling her out. I glared at little lizard face and said, "You must stop doing that. You've hurt my little girl." That little booger actually smiled at me. Lord, help me. At this point, the older sister also started pulling the next WWF champion from the bounce house, as well. I watched her deliver her to their mom. The mom glared at me. The older girl came back over and apologized. Weird. You send your eight year old to do your parenting? Nice. We moved our activities around the corner to the air cannons. OK, maybe I did try to encourage Annie's aim with the foam balls in the general direction of Godzilla but the balls never made it out of the sand pit. Darn. As we continued to build sandcastles in the dry sand (very frustrating), lizard girl took one more shot at Annie. She came from behind and belly bumped Annie to the ground. I never saw it coming. (Believe me, I'd have managed to accidentally throw my foot out in front of her! Oops)! With a face full of sand, Annie was not happy. Another mom also saw the drama and looked at me as if she was waiting for me to go postal and get myself on the six o'clock news. But Godzilla's mom rounded the corner about that time. That also happened to be about the time that I calmly told the little lizard that I needed her to leave Annie alone. The mom puffed up and growled, "I don't like your attitude toward my daughter." I wanted to say, "I don't particularly like your little lizard daughter!" I didn't. She then went on to laugh and say, "They're just being kids." At that point, Godzilla and her tag team mom had pushed me too far. I simply said, "Yeah, but then they grow up and become adults and it's not so cute anymore." What the heck? Where did that come from? I don't ever say things like that! Well, Lizard Mommy retorted, "I don't like your attitude." As this was going on, the older child was pulling on the mom and telling her that little lizard had been bullying Annie. I was a little confused as to who the adult was but that seems to be a problem I'm having lately in many arenas! Anyway, we finished playing without anymore attacks from Godzilla or Lizard Lady and headed home.

The air isn't working well here at home so I decided to divert to mom's house. Empty house. Free food. Free air. (And no lizards with yucky mommies)!

 This is what I was rewarded with! A happily sleeping baby.

Or not! Annie resurfaced on the kitchen table. (Why is this ok? Grant was never allowed to sit on the table OR do a whole list of things that I let Annie do. I'm not sure if they've all just worn me down, if I'm wiser and know which battles to pick, or if this is just the new "normal")!

Nap time didn't last too long. That's always the risk I run when she's not in her own bed. Oh well. We headed to pick Dasha up from her first day at camp. Annie was worried that Dasha wouldn't be home tonight and would be "camping" like Grant was.

The group running the camp is called FOCUS. What a wonderful organization. I've never met so many people who really love what they're doing. I admit that I felt a little guilty. I expected to see other parents there dropping their kids off, looking flustered, and running for their freedom. Heck, that's what I was planning to do. But, the parents and workers were all mingling around like they were best buddies. I guess this organization does lots of get togethers for special needs parents. Anyway, I got Dasha settle in and tried to slowly walk toward the door and pretend that I wasn't escaping. I don't know these people. I didn't want to give them the wrong impression. (Like Lizard Lady probably got).

Anyway, when we went to pick Dasha up, the kids were in their closing music activity. A guy with a guitar sang what I considered to be preschool songs and would have never thought to engage in with Dasha. He sang about speckled frogs on a log. There were hand motions and silly sounds. Dasha was so engaged. She was laughing with the girls on both sides of her. Ugh. My heart broke. She fit in here. She was accepted and was thriving. I so rarely give her that. I struggle to operate on her level but these people knew exactly how to reach her.

I wanted to ask if next week's camp was full but reality set in. Doh! We headed home and Dasha never took a breath from Acworth to Woodstock! She told me about playing with flash lights in the dark, using sticks to beat out rhythms, and "cooking" her own snack. What a different child! She was so thrilled to have been a part of something constructive. So many of her peer groups simply accommodate her but leave her on the sidelines because she doesn't understand the concepts or can't physically keep up. This place was perfect! The camp theme is Hollywood and today's show was Toy Story - one of her favorite movies! Tomorrow is Peter Pan. (On the way out, though, she made it a point to inform the director that her Daddy had just been to Hollywood and brought them gifts. She then, as usual, divulged family secrets that I'd rather not have scattered around like litter. Man. Why does she do that)?

Once home, she spent some time video chatting with Eric about her day. Then, a friend called to let me know she was brining dinner by. What a blessing. She also brought something as simple as some cut flowers from her parents' garden. Man. Just to know that someone went to trouble for you means so much these days!

As we waited on dinner, I asked Dasha to get a library book and read for a while. I secretly hoped that she'd close her mouth long enough to let my ears stop bleeding! As she grabbed for her book, her book mark fell out. At the top, clearly in her handwriting, it said, "I love Alex." (Does anyone else hear the Jaws theme music when things like this happen)? I asked her who Alex was. I was hoping that it was the Alex that she'd grown up with in Russia. If that was the case, then this was just a sweet friendship kind of thing. Nope. Nope. And, NOPE! She said that it was Alex from her class at school. By this point, I was doing Lamaze breathing techniques. NOOOOOOO! I casually (with a shaking voice) asked her what "love" meant. Knowing that my own heart couldn't take too many foul balls in this game tonight, I held my breath. (Please sit down before you continue reading). Dasha very calmly said that it meant that they were dating. I then asked what people do when they date. She said (and I quote), "Well, they usually go places, hold hands, and have sex." Godzilla girl, O where art thou when I need you? I needed lizard face to jump into the scene with that metal chair and clonk Dasha out and them me! Sex? Are you kidding? The girl still doesn't even understand how to handle her period alone yet. We sure haven't reached the chapters on sex yet! Can you see me having that conversation with her? A conversation about the birds and the bees with a child who explains throwing up as pooping out of your mouth! Every emotion conceivable was coursing through my body. I'm SO glad Grant wasn't here to over hear this. After wiping the drool off my chin that had poured from my gaping mouth, I said, "Dasha, what does sex mean?" She said, "It's just like when you're friends with someone." At this point, I took the first breath I'd had in several moments. The conversation continued that we needed to just say that she was "friends" with Alex and that we didn't need to use the sex word. She did go on to ask what it meant and if it was a bad word. I told her we'd talk about it a little later. In my mind, a little later means in a few years. Over dinner, I did manage to ask her where she'd heard the word because my mind started to race about this beautiful place that I'd called "camp." What if the unthinkable had happened to her? She'd do anything anyone told her to do! She calmed my crazed nerves by telling me that she'd heard about sex at school because some kids were talking about doing that with their friends. Um, I think I'll be purchasing one of those bubbles like that kid lived in when he went outside in that 80's movie. Dasha doesn't have the filters that Grant does. She takes everything she hears as truth. I don't want her innocence compromised!

So, as this evening ends, I've dealt with Godzilla, her mom, Dasha's sex question, and my own issues. But, I think the best night-cap for the day is what Dasha just asked me. My mom brought some grape juice over a few days ago. I decided to have a glass to finish off the sugar high resulting from the brownies from dinner (yum) - just what a diabetic needs before bedtime! Dasha stuck her head in the office and said, "Mom, can I have some wine juice, too?" All I could muster was, "Go for it!" For all I know, she might be in the living room downing a bottle of wine right now. At least she'll sleep tonight! But, my luck will be that she'll go tell her camp counselors tomorrow that mom let her have wine juice before bedtime last night! If you see me on the six o'clock news, you'll know that DFACS came for me or I ran into Godzilla again and couldn't control myself!

I'm still trying to finalize tomorrow's plans. Annie thinks we're going back to the "playground" while Dasha is at camp. Um, don't think so unless I take the wine juice with me. I have two counseling appointments for tomorrow afternoon so I might need that juice for later in the evening, though! Ugh. Putting your life back together after the puzzle pieces have been tossed in the air isn't fun - especially when you don't know what the puzzle is supposed to look like!

Here's to the birds, the bees, Dasha finding her "place," and wine juice tonight! And, to think it's only Monday!