I dropped Dasha at camp with her picture and revised letter for the music teacher. (I gave up on the picture and just hoped the heart next to Mr. Andrew's name was a design element).
On the drive, we talked about appropriate behavior with a "stranger" that happened to be male. I felt like Bobby Boursin's mom from Waterboy telling her that little boys are the devil. I sort of waited to hear a retort from the back seat say, "But, Mama, I'm just the waterboy!" Ugh. Anyway, I thought I did a pretty good job of putting forth the boundaries.
I'd promised Annie that we'd go to the park. She keeps thinking that we're going back to DAC Kids to the "pirate bouncy" but I'm still having Godzilla nightmares so I'd checked into some other parks in the area. However, it started raining. Crap. How do you explain to a two year old that playing in the rain isn't a great thing - especially on metal play equipment. I can see the headlines now! "Mom and toddler fried like an egg on the metal slide when lightening zaps them!" No thanks. So, we headed to the next best wonderland, Grandma's house. When we got there, I pulled out the dollhouse and all of the accouterments that go with it. We set the furniture up but Annie was never happy with how I Feng Shui'd the house. I was just putting into practice all of those things I've learned on HGTV. Annie insisted on putting the furniture (specifically the nursery) on the roof and scattering the other rooms around the floor. Geez. While she worked on her own little Vern Yip stylized home, I turned the TV on. One of the great things about Grandma's house is that she has ALL of the cable channels. I'm not sure if they even realize this! I found one of my favorite movies, Grown Ups, on and settled in. I continued sitting on the floor so Annie would have the illusion that I was still playing doll house but I was secretly tuning her out. Every time I see that movie, I just have to laugh out loud at the little character who still nurses at age four. It wouldn't be so funny if those folks didn't really exist. Anyway, Annie eventually decided she was hungry and wanted a snack. (Ewwww. I went right from that weird little nursing boy into Annie wanting a snack). She wandered into the kitchen and came back with a bag of Cheetos in one hand and a massive bag of M&Ms in the other hand. Grandma always keeps a stockpile of junk food. It's like she's preparing for a sugar shortage. Anyway, what's a mom to do? I was exhausted and had no desire to have to make Annie something to eat so I gave her a measuring cup full of M&Ms (only 1/4 cup) and Cheetos (1/3 cup). The girl was happy and quiet and I got to keep watching my movie. She sat in Papa's chair and had her lunch. They say you should eat a "rainbow" of food. Well, M&Ms cover red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and brown and the Cheetos definitely have the orange covered. Don't judge unless you want to come be my personal chef.
Anyway, we finally headed home after the sugar rush wore off for a nap. (I didn't get a nap but Annie did). We went to pick up Dasha and were once again greeted by the camp director. She told me that Dasha had a crush on the music teacher. I wanted to say, "Yeah, no duh! She wants to marry him and live happily ever after!" I calmly acknowledged her statement and let her know I was aware of the situation and we'd talked about it AT LENGTH!
We got home and got everyone settled and began to work on Dasha's costume for tomorrow's camp "concert." We were making a skirt out of bandannas. I sat the sewing machine up on the ironing board (um, stupid stupid stupid) and put the iron on the other end of the board so I could use it to. At the time, it seemed like an organized and original idea. Nope. I now have quite a burn on my arm from where the momentum of the sewing machine zipping down the bandanna hem knocked the iron over and onto me. Once again, my brain cells seem to be migrating south for the summer so I can't say that I was too surprised. Then, I heard that blood curdling scream that every mother dreads. It's that mouth open but no sound comes out cry. But, when the sound finally comes, it's like a tornado siren going off. At this point, I realized that Annie was no longer sitting on the bed. Crap. She was in Dasha's room. I've been doing my best to keep the girls separated after the last incident. Annie sat on the bed holding her face. Dasha sat on the bed looking like a deer in headlights.
I won't relive the details of the next few moments. As far as I can figure out, Dasha slapped Annie across the face because Annie was petting the cat too roughly. However, Dasha's story continued to evolve and change. I called Eric immediately and he video chatted with her but was just as lost as I was.
The good - We have a counseling appointment for Monday night for her and Annie is ok. The bad - Dasha played the crazy card on me when she got out of the bathtub and I ended up loading her and her stuff in the car and dropping her at Grandma's for the night. I know when I've reached my limit and DING DING DING - there it was! Not only do I not know what's going through Dasha's head but I don't know how to parent it. Is she truly in control of her actions? I just don't know anything other than I needed a break.
So, tomorrow, I will leave to go and sleep in the woods alone and be reunited with Grant after a week at camp. I'm actually looking forward to spending a night alone in a hot tent with hard rocks for a pillow. I'm looking forward to having Grant home again, too. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that I didn't realize how much grunt work he does around here like taking the trash out umpteen times a day and watching Annie for me to go to the bathroom alone (or at least with the door closed)!
For tonight, I'm going to bed and praying that I can sleep through the night and that Annie will do the same. Vivid dreams have tormented me for the last few nights and I'm just so tired that I hope I can tune them out tonight. I need sleep.
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