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…