This week was laden with things that kept it from moving smoothly. Monday's visit to the dentist in National Children's Dental Care month seemed to be a good thing 'til I found out that 4 of the kids had cavities. We normally take over the office, ham it up, and get rave reviews in the end. Best I can tell, one of the things that I have encouraged has lent itself to them. A large family often causes a "get what you can while you can" effect. Saving stuff in their rooms (instead of eating it up right away, a good thing) has fallen over into snacking before bed. AHA!
I took Michael to the library to hopefully inspire him, only to have him say he'd already seen all about this or that on TV; we do watch a lot of history and science. I have to admit there have been times when I've avoided the library like the plague, as many mothers with several small/vocal children have, I'm sure. We headed to the dreaded Wal-Mart afterwards and just as I got out of the car, behind us I saw driver of a truck climb down out of his rig. He looked like a younger Mike and tired, kinda dirty from whatever he'd been unloading. I guessed he was there to get supplies and food for his truck. His lonely existense gave me a momentary flashback of what all those trips Mike had taken over the years must've been like. And as hard as it's been for any feeling to return to this relationship, I was glad to have a sudden twinge, a spark of compassion. After all, his truck turned 1,000,000 miles this week. He has put every last one of those on in the last 10 years and has brought home many a dollar to us for it.
Sebastian reverted in his potty training this week, peeing in his clothes and on whatever else was around as many as 5 times a day. Melody found out she has another UTI, which led to even more laundry. There is a tremendous amount of it to get done. Madalynn appears to have embraced her new sickly, whoa is me so I can get away with anything, attitude. She also tripped off the retaining wall to add to her list of whoas. All of this and more happened before today.
Today I planned to spend preparing for my parents and little niece, Maggie, to come up from Georgia with the most magnificent desk I've ever seen that Michael designed and my Dad built for him. Miranda volunteered to get up and take McKala to her first softball practice for the middle school and Melody to her last basketball game. In moving the car before the windshield was thawed and accidentally turning on the wipers and freaking out to get them off, she ran right off the driveway and into the fencepost. She didn't just tear a huge hole in our front bumper and broke the mirror off, but somehow kept going and scratched the car all the way to the back. Here's the problem: we already have enough claims. Several solutions have been tossed around, but because this is her SECOND time doing this, it will not be easily resolved.
Heck, this morning I finally found clean panties and then misplaced them between taking Manuel to the bathroom and the computer, which I found the screen image turned upside down on when I returned and I surely don't know enough to straighten out after little fingers have been at work. A little later, I realized I had a mix-up in kid "taxiing" and put a call in to a coach to hang onto 1 of the kids 'til I could get there. While I was in transit, a call came to the house that a friend had that child because the coach had been hauled off in a Sheriff's car. WHAT? I will say on his behalf that the ref he had it out with is terribly one-sided and the coach is ordinarily a very nice guy.
And here's where this week became soberingly serious: I learned of some things that've been said and done behind my back. That was disconcerting enough, but today, out of the blue, we were accused of trying to have the boys for ourselves. I went SLAM off on that phone. I told the mother that I haven't looked this bad in a while and it's because I committed to doing what is right with the boys. I let loose and the neighbors over the hill could probably hear every word. I doubt I'm at liberty to say too much, but long story short, she came, babbling about how she didn't understand, hadn't said this and that, someone must've lied, crying innocently. One of the girls got in her face and let her have it. See, the mother thinks we have grown too close to them and neglects to see the daily sacrifice of time and effort that has been made by each and every member of our own family. I hope that our children will still see fit to help others after they saw the display of her ripping her children away, going 3 hrs from here to an old friend's home to live, to mooch some more. Difference is what she thinks is going to free her from Social Services just ensnared her. They're onto her already. She just quit the first job she's had in a year to run away and start again. The boys won't be sleeping their sound 12 hours in Madalynn's dark and comfortable room in their own beds tonight. She has fled in her own pride and paranoia for about the 6th time in the last year, dragging them along with her claiming to protect them. I have seen improvement in some areas and it breaks me to see the halt it has come to. We didn't want her boys. We wanted to make a difference. A slap in the face is what we got for that. I do not regret any of it and I can only hope that seeds planted will find a way to blossom.
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