A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to School...

FREEDOM! Ahhh…that glorious word!  I’ve been waiting three months for this day.  The day I finally get to clean my house and enjoy my coffee and watch something on TV other than Disney.  And finally, it is here.

What’s that?  You say I didn’t get my freedom today?  You say I actually spent it in the company of a nine-year-old who refused to go to school today?  Oh…that’s right; TESSA DIDN’T GO TO SCHOOL TODAY.

Sigh…the second day of school and it’s already begun.  And before you say it, nine times out of ten, I would make her go no matter what.  But today, I could tell where this mood was heading.  And I was right; we ended up in a full-fledged, hormone-induced, one-hour crying jag.

Ugh.  We’d already gone through this a few nights ago.  Tessa had twisted her foot and it was hurting her.  So naturally, she cried.  And cried.  And cried.  Pretty soon, she wasn’t even crying about her foot.  Even SHE didn’t know why she was crying!  It lasted for TWO HOURS.  By the time she finally fell to sleep, I was exhausted.  I ended up sleeping with her in her room.  The next day, she was fine.

To be fair, she was indeed a little sick last night.  I don’t know if it was the pizza she ate Sunday night or if she had a bit of a bug, but she spent a good part of the evening enjoying the view from the bathroom.  So she didn’t feel up to par when she went to bed.  But she fell asleep well and slept through the night.

This morning, when I went to wake her, I knew it was going to be a tough one.  I had to practically drag her downstairs Dagwood-style.  When I told her it was time to get ready, her eyes watered and got red and she had THAT look.  When her Dad told her to get ready, the sobs began.  She stood in the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth, bawling.  After five minutes of this, it became apparent this day wasn’t going to go as I had planned.

I sent Don to work, sent her teacher an e-mail and took her to her room.  The rules of the day were simple: no TV, no computer, no DS, and no playing outside the bed.  She could sleep, read, draw, or clean her pigsty  room.  She did go back to sleep for a couple of hours and awoke in a much improved mood.  I suggested going to school late, but that idea was quickly nixed.

She did follow the rules today and she even helped me around the house, cleaning her bathroom, setting the table, doing laundry.  We ate lunch at the dining room table instead of in front of the TV; we cleaned off her homework desk so it would be ready for the school year; we did play a couple of board  games, but only after the school day was officially over…so it ended up being an OK day after all.

That being said, TOMORROW I WANT MY FREEDOM!!  Oh wait…the HVAC guy will be here ALL day.

Sigh…