Dasha's Men, Demanding Toddlers, and Nair Haircuts

OK, before I'd even rolled out of bed this morning... Well, let me back up a minute. I didn't ROLL out of bed. The alarm went off and I was so confused! I couldn't figure out what was going on. Then, it dawned on me and I kind of slithered out of bed. So, I should have said, "Before I'd even slithered out of bed this morning." Anyway, I grabbed my devotional book and WHAM! Here are the highlights from 5:20 this morning.

• Reality is in facing our circumstances and looking for the Lord to lead us through our difficulties.
• We will be remembered more for how we endured our difficulties than how we managed our blessings.
• God uses people who are weak and feeble enough to lean on Him.
• Tough faith does not grow in a comfortable mind.
• Protection against pain blunts our capacity to love.
• It is easy to find scapegoats for our difficulties, but these do not make us what we are - they only reveal what we are in our hearts and minds.

I admit that I kind of rolled my eyes this morning and kind of chuckled about the second point. If anyone had seen me last night, I would have surely been remembered but you would have remembered my mug shot on the 6 o'clock news!

While I am so glad to be back in the classroom with my students, getting the big kids plugged back in has been really hard. Grant isn't thrilled about his classes and Dasha just seems to think everything is a party. She has several male teachers this year and I can already tell that it's going to be challenging. She is SO driven by relationships. She wants to fit in and be accepted. (Why the heck does she eat glue sticks then)? She really craves attention from males right now and that's scary. Each afternoon, she's come home and told me nearly every anecdotal story that her male teachers have told in class. I've asked her about her other classes and she can't really tell me anything other than one teacher gave her candy. I'm holding my breath to see how it all plays out but the "what ifs" are running rampant right now. I've always known her teachers and really everyone that she interacts with. What if some creep comes into her life and... I don't want to go there. She just doesn't get it. Her social boundaries are nearly null and void and she'd go anywhere and do anything with just about anyone - especially right now! So, while I'm dealing with the "what ifs" with Dasha, Grant is in mega pout mode about everything. The worst part is that he knows how to push my buttons big time. When he didn't get the response he wanted from me about not having familiar faces in his classes, he started ramping up the story and upping the ante. The story then morphed to a tale of someone smashing his finger into a locker. I don't want to be nominated for another Mom of the Year award for not hearing his pain (remember the undiagnosed broken arm that I told him to 'get over')? but I never know if he's just trying to get my sympathy or if there's really a problem. I guess if he comes home tomorrow with a broken finger I'll know that it's a real problem.

I picked the kids up in car line today which worked better for me. I left school, picked Annie up, and headed to grab my position in the never ending car line. Annie decided to unbuckle herself as we waited. I was mildy ok with this because she crawled to the back of the van and counted the buses as they rolled past. I sat still and quiet as the van idled for the first time all day.

The problem came when I told her to climb back into her seat. She had a pretty strong opinion on the matter and it was, "NO!" Crap! I'd just gotten comfortable and I didn't expect the car line to move so quick! At our school, we're lucky if we get all of the car riders out of the building in an hour this week. Grant said it was a little different at the middle school. He said you basically pick out a nice car you like with someone nice looking driving and jump in. (I'm not sure why he decided to get in the white minivan with me). Maybe we should try this method tomorrow for elementary car line. Hmmmm.... That would be interesting! I still like the buy one get one free method of doing car line! :) Anyway, Annie pitched a fit but finally crawled back into her seat and buckled herself in. However, she buckled everything in backwards and pretty much trapped herself - arms and all - in her seat. Poor Grant had to untangle her and she rewarded his kindness by screaming all the way home! Never mind my nice peaceful drive home.

Mom and dad were nice enough to bring dinner by. Everyone ate except Annie. Perfect. At that point, I was left with a dilemma. Do I just put her to bed hungry and risk her getting up a million times during the night or risk becoming a short order cook and fix her something different. Finally, I asked her if she wanted something to eat. She said, "Mac n cheese." When I told her that I didn't have any (ok, maybe I just didn't want to MAKE any), she said, "Go get some!" Seriously? Grant was sitting right there and heard her. Poor Grant scrambled to get under the radar before I flipped my lid at the audaciousness of this two year old! She ended up with a muffin and milk but was put to bed pretty quickly after the nut started making grocery store demands!

After I got Annie to bed, I told Dasha to go and get a bath. I assumed this was a task she could handle. I headed to my room to get my clothes ready for tomorrow. Then, I heard Grant scream. It was an uncatergorized scream. Not a "bloody murder I'm dying" kind of scream and not a "there's a boogey man in my room" scream. I ran down the hallway to see Grant with his eyes squeezed shut and Dasha standing naked in the hallway. Come on now! We've had this discussion a million times! If your underwear covers it, don't let anyone see it! Is that really all that hard? After checking to see that Grant hadn't been blinded for life, I tried to figure out why Dasha was roaming the hall in her birthday suit. She said that I'd told her that I would take care of her underarms. Maybe this is TMI but what do you do with a 13 year old who has braidable arm pit hair but can't wield a razor safely? My choices have been to shave her pits myself or use Nair. After tonight's drama, I opted for Nair. I didn't think I was too safe with a razor! So, as usual, I smeared the goo on her and left her sitting in the tub to start washing her hair. When I went back to help scrub the goo off, I realized that we had a little problem. As Dasha wiggled around washing her hair, she'd gotten Nair on her head hair! Man! So, she now has an uneven hair line because her hair was Nair-d. Perfect. I cant' wait to hear what she tells her teachers tomorrow!

Tonight, I just want to collapse into bed and that's what I'm about to do! I finished filling out all of the kids' paperwork before dinner so I could be selfish and steal the last 15 minutes of the day's silence for myself!

Goodnight, all!