Lena spent the weekend at my parents' house so we've been dealing with invasion of the body snatchers for the last two days now. My mother calls her Perfect Angel. In her eyes Lena can do no wrong and there's no such thing as her Perfect Angel having a serious attitude problem. I completely understand that this is the benefit of being the grandparent and not the parent, but after 3 days in an environment where you're never told no, ice cream is breakfast food, and bedtime is mythical thing you faintly remember, home starts to resemble a concentration camp in the eyes of an 11 year old.
Since Lena is in her tween years we're already navigating the minefield that is my little drama queen on a daily basis... Don't get me wrong, she's a good kid who I rarely have any trouble with, but she's been trying on her sarcastic big girl pants more and more frequently these days. She hasn't exactly mastered the art of it all just yet and sometimes she pushes just a little too far. We're working on it, but we still have to correct her when some of the things that escape her
Trips to Gramma's No Rules Wonderland just seem to amplify the thoughts that she can do and say whatever she pleases... I assure you, this is not the case. Last night, she managed to push me just a little too far.
On Sunday evening I finally established a work out routine for myself. I restarted the 6 week challenge on EA Active for our Wii and have stuck to it all week so far. This means that I'm setting aside 30 minutes each evening just for me. Lena, thinking she was clever, thought she'd take advantage of this time while she was supposed to be working on her homework. Before I started my workout, I told her to work on her writing because I know that takes her longer and that when I was done we'd work on her math together. Made perfect sense to me...
The Step Aerobics workout is split up into 3, 10 minute segments (so you can get a drink in between sets) and during the end of the first set I suddenly hear Lena in her room talking to someone. She didn't realize that I got a break I guess because when I walked into her room she had a look of total shock on her face. When I asked her who she was talking to she told me she'd called her friend... For help on her homework of course!... However, she was supposed to be working on writing. Last time I checked, you don't need help from your friends to work on a creative story of your own, but hell, I could be wrong.
At first I was kind about it and told her that she knew the rules and she needed to say goodbye. Homework time is homework time, period. Then the Gramma's House Hangover kicked in and what she said to me flipped my meltdown switch...
"Well, you're too busy doing something you want to do instead of helping your kid. So, I called J for help on math instead!"
"OH HELL NO! YOU DID NOT JUST SAY THAT TO ME!"
I made her hang up the phone immediately, made her hand it over promptly, get on her writing homework, and she was now required to leave her door open. Then, I went back to my workout like nothing had happened.
As soon as I was done we tackled her math homework and I tucked her into bed. After I kissed her the tears started to well up in her eyes. "Mom, I'm really sorry I'm such a brat. I shouldn't have said that to you."
I explained to her again, that sometimes the things she says are hurtful. I explained that no matter what though I would always forgive her and that I love her. I told her that kind of behavior simply will not be tolerated. She knows the rules. I kissed her again and I told her I loved her more than anything in the world. And before turning out the light...
I told her if she ever talked to me like that again that they would have trouble finding the body. Sweet dreams!
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