Yesterday we went to my sister’s house for dinner. She has a very large swimming pool and no one was outside swimming, so I decided to change that. I went outside to swim. My daughter came outside a few minutes later.
A year ago, my daughter was good with standing in the shallow end and pretending she could swim. Even though I have been trying to teach her since she was 5, she never wanted to learn, or was just too afraid to listen.
Today, she wanted to race me across the pool. Deep end and all. I was proud. She was not afraid to swim anywhere and go under water. I noticed she was still holding her nose though when she went under water. I thought I could teach her how to go under without holding her nose.
So I asked her if she wanted to learn, she said she did. I showed her how to do it. Blowing air out of your nose when you go under then stop then blow out again when you come back up.
She was anxious to try, so here we go! She counts to three, 1, 2, … … … 3! She jummps up readying for the plunge under water, comes down ready to plummit in with out holding her nose and stops, head above the water standing on her feet. She got nervous. Ready again she tells me. Jumps up, lands on her feet. Again…jump…feet. About twenty times we do this. Of course at this point I am laughing telling her to just try it. Finally she does.
Blowing air out from her nose she goes under. Breathing in all the water she can on the way up. She jumps up, coughing and sneezing. I ask her if she is ok, she says yes, but she thinks she did wrong. Yes you did I tell her. We laughed and played for a little bit then I got out and went inside.
It was a good day. Nice to be in Arizona near familly after so many years of being away from them.
That’s right. Today my daughter got off the bus all smiles, lunch box in hand. I guess she won one over the lunch box snatching janitor. All is well.
Looking forward to a great weekend with family. Headed to my older sister’s house tomorrow for dinner. And I NEED to get my daughter’s and mine passports sent off so we have them in time for the Cruise we are going on in October. More about that later.
We are at the bus stop this morning and my daughter is in a bad mood. I ask her what’s wrong, she says nothing. Of course there is nothing wrong, she acts like this all the time!
I ask again. She tells me the janitor at the school throws away everything. So she is SURE her lunch box is in the trash. And gone forever. And lost to the garbage wasteland. And so on.
I asked her where she put it. She told me it is by her desk. I told her, surely the janitor will not throw away something by her desk and all she needs to do is remember to bring it home.
She is a wreck because she doesn’t want to be grounded this weekend. So what do I do when she asks me, “What happens if it isn’t there and I don’t bring it home?” I tell her exactly what any strict, follow the rules, responsible, true to punishments parent would say:
“We will talk about what happened, and then we will decide what to do.”
Yes, she has super powers, right at that, I’m gonna cry, sad, almost in tears look, burrowing deep in my eyes I folded under her super powered pressure.
She’s my little girl. Do I need an excuse?
This is the best I had all week! Today, my daughter comes home, she forgot her lunch box at school again. Not a big deal, I tell her she is grounded until the lunch box comes home. Which equates to being grounded tonight, then tomorrow if she brings the lunch box home, she is good to go. That’s not my favorite though.
So she is doing her homework, she gets done and brings it up to my desk. We go over it together. The last math problem she has is this:
1,000 meters = 1kilometer
Tom and Isaac walked 2 and 1/2 kilometers along a hiking trail. How many meters did they walk?
Her answer, 2000 and 1/2.
I tried very hard not to fall out of my chair laughing. I corrected her and explained how to figure it out.
Simple moments in time like these is where we can really find joy in being parents.
Yes, the library book search is over! Last night as I was putting my daughter to sleep she tells me she got a “no” card today. That means if she gets one more she needs to serve detention again. Ugh. I told her she was not allowed to play until she found her book. I mean, for two weeks this book has been missing. So, now I need to put my foot down.
Miraculously the book was found this morning! It turns out it was in one of her other backpacks that she doesn’t use. (So, WHY, was it in there?!?) I will not go there.
The morning moves along smoothly. Until I go to make her lunch. No lunchbox. I asked her where she put it yesterday since she did not put it away where it was supposed to go. She looks, and looks, and looks, and looks. Nothing.
Good trade off! I am thinking, no detention, we found the book. She can buy lunch today and we can look for the lunch box tonight, and there is no detention for lost lunch boxes! :D
Fast forward to the bus stop. Bus pulls up, we go through our typical goodbye ritual, a kiss on the head, a hug, a kiss goodbye, then the constant waving and the “I love you” sign language we have been doing for years. As she gets on the bus though, the bus driver stops her, and guess what, hands her a lunch box that looks EXACTLY like hers!
All is right in the world again, even if it is only until the next fun situation unfolds.
