The Unanticipated

It works.

There's no way around it.

It just works for this kiddo.

Little Miss Muffet has enjoyed an almost stellar week.  I've kept her reined in tight and she responds exactly the way anyone would hope which shows improvement. She has been by my side or Steve's constantly. Friday, though, things were a little crazy and I needed Bri to watch her and Bri needed to study, so she had more freedom than was allowed previously all week. She handled it very well and kept announcing, "I be good all day... can I go to Sabbath school tomorrow?" 

I never promise anything. My answer is always the same. " I don't know. We'll see."

She was definitely heading there, when out of the blue sky she pulled an old trick out of the hat.

Vanessa was just stunned! "WHY in the world did she do that? That was a most random, unanticipated move. I don't get it!!!"

I actually was not surprised. She was within minutes of realizing her goal, she practically had the prize in her grasp, she figured she wouldn't be denied..... but if she were to test the resolve of the powers that be, this was the moment to do so.  I told Vanessa it had nothing to do with anything except for her need to be the one in command.

Someday I'll read Missy these stories and she'll laugh with me. Right?

Yesterday, Vanessa ironed a special dress and helped Missy pick out her tights and everything all the way down to the underwear for church today.  It was all laid out in her room. This morning the last thing she needed to do was get dressed before we left. 

Suddenly her little brain quit working. She could not figure out what to wear. She came out with a black turtleneck. I told her that wasn't what I thought had been planned. She came back and forth a few times. I told her to go to Vanessa and Vanessa would remind her which outfit she was suppose to wear. Pretty soon Vanessa came upstairs exasperated. She won't wear the clothes we planned. She insists on the black turtleneck but there's nothing to go with it. I asked Vanessa to just bring me the clothes and tell Missy to come to me. From there a tantrum ensued... and eventually she was sent to buckle up in the car by Dad without her having finished putting her tights or shoes on, her hair a disaster because she just wouldn't. There was a quite a ta-do about that. She had to stay by me the rest of the day.... which isn't over, but it sure makes a difference in her attitude.  I'm sorry she can't make it to her class, but I know the lessons she is learning is as important or more so than what she would learn in class.

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As I type new neighbors are moving in  the house up on the hill closest to us. This move has got to be the most intriguing of any we've ever watched from our side of the hill... We haven't figured out just how many kids there are. Our first count was 5, but we discovered a baby and that makes 6... however, that might be the younger 6? We started seeing some older kids and now we're all confused. There could be friends or cousins helping with the move. (At last count it's 11 and it's definitely a lively bunch). From a distance they are the epitome of the homeschooling, conservative, quiver-full,  Baptist family. We're anxious to meet them. The customary fresh homemade loaf of welcome bread will need to be expanded to a 2 or 3 loaves. We haven't really had too many neighborhood kids in our life and I'm a tad apprehensive about what that might mean considering our twins . . .  I've always been quite content to specifically CHOOSE who my children rub shoulders with.  I also know the landlord has had trouble renting the place out for nearly the length of a year (except the short spell he let his teenage son and his friends live there), so perhaps this was a move ordained by God. Who can tell?

I've been forever grateful that the house sat empty that first 6 months of the constant raging and screaming we endured when the twins moved in.  Whoever might have lived there was spared a ton of grief. The unearthly noise echoed around in this hollow. No one would have been able to escape it.