I Screwed Up

It's been a few days.  The days have been pretty eventful.  So much so that I have too much stuff to write about and have therefore written nothing.  Such is life.

Well, I was trying to figure out what to call this post.  My immediate thought was "Oh Crap", but that will be a fitting title for many posts to come, so I figured I better think of something a little more specific to the situation, haha.

Having Sophia in the house this last month has been an adventure, to say the least.  Truth be told, I was a little trepidatious (yes, I had to look up the spelling) about her being here for such a long period of time.  Six and a half weeks.  That is like forever.  We get bits of information from her mother, that, when put together, paint a picture of quite the sassy little girl.  Apparently they have a problem with lying and outright defiance.  We have her every other weekend during the school year, and she's really pretty good for us, but we realized that things might be different with her here for such a long stretch.  I admit, and I am ashamed of it, that when something goes wrong, my assumption is that she had a part in it.

For some reason, I had one of those days where it seems that any little noise is excessive, and I was on edge all day.  The kids were inside most of the day because it was oppressively hot outside, and round about 4:00 it was getting to be too much for me.  Peanut was getting tired, so I took that opportunity to excuse myself to go upstairs where it is quiet and air-conditioned and put her to sleep.  Just before I went up, Sophia asked to do a puzzle.  (They're all up on a high shelf because the last time she did them she dumped about six of them on the floor at the same time and wouldn't pick them up.)  So I got one down for her and went upstairs.

Peanut and I were lying down on the bed together.  I set an alarm so I would wake up in time for church and closed my eyes.  I was almost asleep when I heard a chair being dragged across the floor, presumably in the dining room.  Now, Sophia has a habit of trying to do things without asking first.  Not that we don't let her do anything without asking our permission, but she takes things she shouldn't be playing with or does things that are not safe.  So I immediately thought, That little stinker is trying to get another puzzle down. I kept listening, but didn't hear anything else, so I let myself drift off. 

I came downstairs when it was time to make dinner.  Nathaniel and Sophia were both in the dining room.  Sophia held up the puzzle toward the shelf and said, "Here, we gave up trying.  Can you put it away?"  I of course thought they were trying to climb on a stool (which was pulled out a little way from the table toward the shelf) and put the puzzle away.  I asked if they were trying to get up on the stool to put the puzzle away and they both said no.  So I said, "Who pulled the stool across the room?  I heard it from upstairs."  Sophia said, "I did."  So I sent her to her room for lying to me about climbing on the stool, thinking she had done it to get to the puzzles on the shelf.  I talked to her a couple minutes later and explained that I didn't send her to her room because she was climbing and not being safe, but because she lied to me.  She said she was sorry and asked if I would forgive her.  I said of course I would, but she needed to remember that we tell the truth at our house. 

I finished dinner, and we sat down to eat.  And Nathaniel said, "I pulled this chair out from the table to get a puzzle piece that fell on the floor."  Oh no.  I asked, "Is that why I heard something being dragged across the floor?  Did that really happen?", knowing that it was too logical a story not to be true.  And later, he told me that the pieces were not all there so they didn't finish the puzzle.  They "gave up trying."

Crap.

Why do I do this to myself?  Or, more to the point, why do I do this to them?  I always assume that I know exactly what is going on, when I really have no clue.  I know she has a problem with lying at her mom's house, I heard a chair dragging on the floor, I know she likes puzzles, I know she likes to take things without asking.  You'd think that would be a pretty strong case, right?  Nope.  Definitely wouldn't hold up in court.  And really, do I even need to try to put a case together?  I'm not a lawyer, I'm a parent.  And a Christian one, at that (though I'd have a hard time proving that in court, too).  Where's the grace?  Where is the mercy?

So for the second time in two days, I found myself apologizing to my daughter.  I asked her to forgive me and she said, "Of course!"  She is so sweet.  Later on, while we were sitting on the couch, she leaned her head on my shoulder and said, out of the blue, "I love you, Sarah."  There's the mercy.

Later, after they went to bed, I tried to turn on the TV using the remote control.  It wouldn't turn on.  I tried a few times, and nothing.  I opened the compartment where the batteries are to change them, and there were no batteries.  I asked Matt if he took them out, and he said no.  Sophia's the only one who watches movies on that TV lately.  That little stinker took the batteries out of the remote!, I thought.  Here we go again... 

Lord, have mercy!

Here are a couple pictures I thought appropriate to the situation:

So true.

The whole thing isn't necessarily applicable to the occasion, but I really like it.  And I seem to frequent that last place often.