We watched a really delightful movie on DVD last night, Bottle Shock. I reviewed it here .
It stars Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, two
awesome actors. It was filmed in California wine country, a place I’ve always wanted to visit.
When it was over, Alesia said something like
she wished she had a glass of wine. I said “You cannot drink alcohol until you
are 21. That’s the legal age.”
I’ve told her that before. She still looked
surprised. She said “But I’ll be 18 soon!”
“It doesn’t matter, you cannot drink then.”
She kept repeating “I’ll be 18 soon!”,
almost manically, over and over, smiling and giggling. It was really quite
bizarre. It was like she was goading me, trying to make me mad. I held my
temper.
I think what’s happening is that kids at
school are telling her she can do whatever she wants at 18 [her birthday is
July 9] and she is listening to them. I don’t think she’s in danger of running
away, but I really fear some stupid behavior.
We’ve talked about this in therapy several
times, but I think we really need to address it again, because she is so
susceptible to bad influences from other kids at school. I think it’s staring
to really sink in that she may look 17, but emotionally she is about 14, and
that’s upsetting her. She can’t express that in a healthy way, though.
This morning at breakfast she wore an
outlandish outfit, shorts and shirt that didn’t match, and a hoodie that really
didn’t match. She sat down at the breakfast table and said to me “I DON’T care
what you think of my outfit, but I want to know if the colors coordinate!” I
told her no, and wearing three difference patterns looked bizarre. She looked
at me and said “Oh no, you CAN wear different patterns if the colors match!”
I didn’t try to dispute that, but it was
very hard not to tell her she looked weird. She almost missed the bus due to
fooling with her hair, which was in two braids. She looked like a homeless
Swiss Miss.
I told her to quit messing with her hair,
and go catch the bus, NOW. I told her I didn’t want her to miss the bus,
because then I would have to take her to school. She said “So?!” and I said “If
I take you to school, that makes me late to work.” It’s so exasperating
sometimes, getting her to see how her actions affect others. She doesn’t think
about inconveniencing me. She got so mad she flounced down the stairs and
wouldn’t even tell me goodbye.
When she got home from school, Mother said
“How did your friends like your hair?” and Alesia said “They thought it was
adorable!”
After school, more drama.
Michael said in PE today he fell coming down
the slide. Nothing injured, apparently. I asked him what he did to fall coming
down the slide. He described something that I didn’t really understand, and ended
by saying “Well,
when Jeff Hardy [the wrestler] does it, he doesn’t get hurt.”
I wanted to scream, SON HOW MANY TIMES HAVE
I TOLD YOU WRESTLING IS FAKE?!!!
Mother called me about 4, laughing, and said
both kids had gone to the tennis court. I was surprised, since Alesia always
says she doesn’t
like to play tennis. Michael guilted her into going with him. He had asked her
to go to his match last weekend and she refused, but said she would go hit
balls with him sometime. This afternoon he said “You PROMISED you would go down there with me and hit
balls!” and
he badgered her until she gave in.
I am thinking he has a future as a car
salesman…
