Tuesday, May 23, 2006
We went to the grocery store Sunday afternoon, and Alesia wanted to argue about everything. Particularly egregious are the arguments over foods that she THINKS she likes, or will like. She has done this before, then we get home and she takes one bite of said food item and goes YUCK. Anyway, this has been a source of contention for a while now. I have informed her she must eat all of any such food, as we will waste no more food.
When we got in the car to go home from the store, it was relatively peaceful. I tease her sometimes about being so argumentative and growing up to be a lawyer some day [horrors!!]. So I said “Wow, it’s been almost a minute since you argued with me.” Her reply? “It was more than a minute!” I had to laugh. “You’re still arguing, Kid!”
Alesia has developed a cold sore on her lip, a recurring problem for which I have prescription medication for her. I found the bottle last night and gave her a pill at bedtime, and said “Now tomorrow you must take four of these.” She got settled into bed, then suddenly jumped up and grabbed a sticky note and wrote on it and put it outside her door. I looked at it and the note said “Mom! Don’t forget the pill for THE LIP!”
This morning, I discovered she has been putting antibiotic cream on her lip, Neosporin. She told me last night she was putting “The cream on The Lip” but I assumed it was Abreva or Anbesol. When I realized this morning that it was Neosporin I got po’d and yelled at her, and she argued right back at me. I tried to calm down and explain she must not ingest Neosporin as it might hurt her. She must not use anything on her lip not specifically meant to be used on The Lip. She continued to be defiant and I confess I yelled at her some more about not arguing all the time. Some of it is just PMS.
I finally calmed down and when we were in the car going to school, I pulled over, took a deep breath, and said “You know, Alesia, even though I get angry with you sometimes, I will always love you and you will always be my daughter.” This is what the parenting book I read said to do, reassure adopted children of this a lot, so they feel secure. The conversation continued:
Me: “I will always love you, even if you decide to go live with the Eskimos and I never see you again.”
Alesia: “I’m not planning to do that any time soon.”
Me: “I know you are angry, but I will always love you, even if you hate my guts.”
Alesia: ”What are guts?”
I pointed to my stomach and tried not to laugh. I could almost hear her thinking “Why would I hate your stomach?!” I said lamely “It’s an American expression.”
Just when I am at my wits’ end she says something so inadvertently funny that I am stopped short. I can usually keep a straight face. Not always. The other day she said “Why you always laughing at me?!” I said “You’re a funny kid.” She replied “I am not funny!”
