Oh boy.

[conuly]

Jenn was supposed to do the nieces' hair yesterday. She didn't. We were supposed to have socks somewhere in this house. We never do. Also, the oats weren't soaked, and nobody better tell me that plantains and grapefruit isn't a good breakfast!

After breakfast (and during, to tell the truth) I tackled their hair. They'd been wearing it down, and aside from being in their faces it gets tangled like that. So first I combed Evangeline's hair and quickly tied it back in one pony tail in the front. Simple. Quite possibly the simplest hairstyle she has other than "down".

Now it was Ana's turn.

"Ow! It hurts! Be gentle!" (when I was being as gentle as possible) turned quickly into "LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE! LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE! LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE!" and from there into "YOU'RE JUST HURTING ME ON PURPOSE! LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE! AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" coupled with liberal hitting, scratching, bouncing up and down, and yanking her head wildly from one spot to another (the last, seriously, is just a bad idea. But then it always turned out to be my fault her hair got pulled....)

I eventually moved from being as gentle as possible to "fuck gentle, let's get this over with NOW.", not that gentle really works when you only have one hand due to the other one being used to keep yourself safe.

But I eventually managed to get Ana's hair done. And find socks. Ana informed me promptly that she couldn't speak now and it was ALL MY FAULT. Evangeline informed me that no, she wasn't putting down her handful of coins, not even for the one second necessary to put on her socks. So after school has ALREADY STARTED and we're ALREADY LATE I finally just wrestled the money out of her hand and threw her socks and shoes on. Hustled everybody down the stairs. At this point Ana is calm but grumpy, and Evangeline is screaming like a banshee. *sighs*

Since this is "All your fault, Connie" Ana glared at me, then hugged a protective arm around her sister. "Don't mind her, she's just being mean because she's in a bad mood." Yes, my goals of getting the girls to school sometime within the hour were mean, because I was in a bad mood for no reason whatsoever. And lo and behold, Evangeline calmed down by the time we turned the corner.

Calmed down so much that two women standing on their stoop saw the girls, and oohed and aaaahed over how cute they are, dressed in their uniforms and walking down the street hugging each other, and how darling and wonderful they must be. The nieces immediately grinned and giggled and started being as adorable as possible. By contrast, I think you can imagine the face I was making.

And my day has only just begun. I have to wash clothes, do the shopping, prep a snack to bring up to visit Daddy, get outfits for them to wear after school (which is going to lead to another fight, because I'm not going to inflict Ana's jingly skirt she got for her birthday on him - and would you believe, Michele plans to give a second skirt to Evangeline on HER birthday?), and clean up the kitchen from yesterday because I kinda didn't.

Plus, buy new jeans. But maybe I can hold off on that until tomorrow...?

Comments

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

OMG, what an attack of fractious BUTT-ness! They have no idea how lucky they are to have you, Connie, because a very great many people would have responded to that behavior by applying the back of the hairbrush to the butts in question. I commend your forbearance there - it wouldn't have helped, but oh how tempting it must have been.

Jen was supposed to do hair but didn't, and then you get "LEAVE MY HAIR ALONE!" when they're already late? Heck with that; I say that's the time to stop on a dime: "Fine, go to school like that, then" - it's her hair, after all, and the world won't end if it isn't combed. There's no possible way any hairstyle is worth a hitting, scratching fight that leaves you both emotionally trashed before the day's even begun.

Plantains and grapefruit sounds like a perfectly good breakfast; why not?

...hope the rest of your day went better!

[conuly]

Sending them to their father's with bad hair is going to cause way more upset than them being a few minutes late to school. Sending them to see their father after school looking a mess is not an option. And doing their hair on the boat is something I'd rather not do - at least at home, the tantrum is only witnessed by a few people!

And yes, the day mostly did go better except we left Evangeline's bag at the ETG on the way to the boat! Oh well, I picked it up today, carried apples in it.