Meels and I have had quite a week. Right when we got school sorted out, life shifts again and Daddy leaves. I don’t have the sympathy that I should because I compare Josh’s travel now to our early days of marriage when the boys were little and think, “This is nothing!” But in her world, Daddy being home is normal and everything gets thrown off kilter when he is away.
He’s only deployed once for 2 1/2 months since she’s been born and traveled for a month here and there for various exercises when we lived in Bahrain (and some years traveled quite a bit), but I guess on top of all the change from this move, Daddy traveling now is a bridge too far.
She was being a total brat to me — eye rolling, huffing, and “fine!” as she stomped off when I asked her to help out with something over the weekend. A small request to help pick up branches in the yard became screaming about not having work gloves, pestering her brothers, and flopping on the ground. She refused to nap, screeching “I’m not tired.” But 5 minutes down the road, her body betrayed her.
I know she loves to write, but I’m sure the next people that receive this furniture aren’t going to be thrilled that their desk is already labeled with someone else’s name (we were able to get the pencil marks off, thankfully).
Credit where credit is due, she is now going off to school with a smile.
Don’t let the sweatshirt fool you. It’s still hot here. High 90s and the humidity kicks in mid afternoon, but since it’s only 80 when the bus comes at 7am, she finds it chilly. Note the bare feet on Carter in the background. He was busy trying to catch the end of the Dodger game before the bus came. Baseball before shoes.
I know she uses up all of her “good behavior” at school and then lets down once she gets home, but we are not going to last long if she keeps this up. Yesterday’s meltdowns were because I told her she couldn’t watch TV or play on her iPad. When she finally recovered she asked if I would take her swimming. Yes, I love it when people yell at me and tell me that I’m the Meanest Mom Ever and then ask me for things.
But we walked over to our compound pool and she swam.
like a fish.
A picture perfect evening. And then she proceeded to stomp her way home because I wouldn’t buy her an ice cream bar at the mini mart. La di dah, Princess Camille.
Then she was going to take a bath, but didn’t want her brother to turn on the water for her (too bad, don’t take a bath then), screamed at me because I sent her to bed without a bath, then ran her naked self down the hall into my bathroom and locked herself in, saying “I’m not budging!” “You’re a stupid mommy!” Hmm, what else? Eventually Daddy responded to my emergency SOS iMessage and called to talk his Princess down off the ledge.
I also love it when a 6 year old gives me advice on how to have successful interpersonal relationships. #apology?
It’s funny to see how the boys react to her when she’s on a tear. Calvin gets defensive of me, gets mad at Camille and makes things worse by trying to tell her how she should behave. That doesn’t go over very well with her. Carter disappears and doesn’t even notice that anything is wrong and Caleb hangs on the fringes, laughs and shakes his head, saying, “She’s crazy.”
This morning she woke up throwing up so I’m her best friend as I catch puke in my hands (gotta save the carpets), hold back her hair, bring her 7up, and let her watch Anna and Elsa doll videos on YouTube. (It’s a thing and it’s super-weird, but she loves it. People act out things with dolls just like you would playing on your own, but they film them and put them on YouTube. You’ve Been Warned)
Hope Princess Camille enjoys her Queen for a Day status, because tomorrow it’s back to being Cinderella with the super-mean mom!