Truths: Spoiled Rotten

So, I had the pleasure of caring for my 15 month old granddaughter the last few days. I mean that in the most honest and sincere way. However, unlike a good percentage of “grandmas” I also have a 12 year old daughter at home and well, that changes things.

I know, I can hear you saying it, “Big deal – lots of people have 12 year olds and 15 month olds in their home.” And while you are right – it begs the question, “Why?”

To me it just confirms that sex feels good and that it makes us do things we wouldn’t otherwise do had we had our wits about us. Why would you succomb to the mere mention of adding to your family when your youngest is 12?

This is how the last few days have been in my house…

Josee just pooped and I am changing her diaper which is a “bad” one and Abby yells from upstairs, “Mom! Mom?”

“Yes,” I answer as I wipe poop off my hands…

“Mom! Are you making my lunch yet?”

“No dear- I am not making your lunch – I am cleaning up your niece’s dinner.”

Later that evening as I am making Josee’s bottle and getting her PJ’s on…

“Mom! Mom?”

“Yes, Abby,” I say.

“Mom! My flashdrive isn’t working – you need to take me to Dad’s NOW!”

To myself I am thinking in superlatives… But I say, “Really, you think I can take you to dad’s right NOW? Really?”

To which she reacts as though our home is being invaded by aliens, “OH MY GOSH… this is due TOMORROW – what am I supposed to do????”

Thankfully, my husband takes her because, really, – “what am I supposed to do???”

And, it was at that moment I couldn’t help but wonder what the Hell people do do? A baby is crying for their bottle, its passed their bedtime and your snot nosed 12 year old decides to have a crisis.

Now, I preface my own crisis with the fact that my daughter is basically an only child in our household. Yes, we have two older daughters (the ones who made her an aunt) but no other “child” lives with us and that obviously, rears its ugly head when we have times when life is not all about HER.

Having your granddaughter stay with you is certainly one of those times you realize such a thing.

There were other times…

As I held Josee on my hip – let the dogs in and fed them with my other hand and Abby screams from the top of the steps, “Mom! Mom? What time is it?”

“Don’t you have a clock up there?” I say… which was really meant to be a lot more than a question – more like a “are you fricking kidding me? I am doing three things at once and you can’t even read the clock in your room…”

“The clock up here doesn’t say the same thing as the one down there.” She huffs down at me.

And, really, what do you say to that?

I said nothing and instead chose to listen to Josee as she woofed like a dog and looked out the slider to point out to me that I had forgotten one of the five dogs in the yard.

It became painfully obvious that the most silent one in the crowd was definitely getting her point across the best.

There was the time when Abby came home from soccer and I was getting Josee ready for a bath and for the first time in 12 years Abby decided she WANTED to take a shower. Of course she does, why on Earth didn’t I expect that – I don’t know maybe its that for the last 12 years I have begged and fought and screamed and cried trying to get my daughter to see the importance of showering and now, like some unprecedented miracle, tonight as my 15 month old granddaughter splashes playfully in the tub, Abby decides SHE should be clean.

She also decided this week that everything would be SO MUCH BETTER if I drove her to school. This week? The one week that I am waking up to a baby, changing a diaper and feeding her breakfast all before 7 – this is the week I should drive her?

Yes, at 12, Abby can be an enormous help with Josee. Offering to feed her and play with her and dress her but those time flit and flap like the wind and when I find myself in a crunch – mashing up noodles, cleaning up a spill and stirring spaghetti sauce as I sing, “The wheels on the bus go round and round…” Hearing my affectionate name, “MOM!” belted from the top of the house only sends chills up my spine and makes my hair stand up.

I couldn’t do it. I guess had my life been different – I could have. But, the demands of a 12 year old meshed with the demands of a 15 month old – are enough to put anyone over the edge.

Josee went home yesterday and I already miss her. She is adorable and makes me laugh. And, now, to Abby’s liking – life can be all about HER again.