Poor Scooter. She has mean parents. She didn't get her writing homework done this weekend (mainly b/c it was spent in her dad and stepmom's hotel room, but that's another story). We had threatened her that if she doesn't get her writing homework done (which is extra-credit, by the way), that instead of a weekend update, she'd have to start writing every day. Well...since we are in the habit of following through on threats (another story), today is the day she starts writing 100 words (or 30 minutes - whichever is MORE) per day. Yipers. Last night, she wrote 86 words, and it took her an hour and a half. This might be painful.
But you know what? It gets easier. And to share in her misery, I've decided that maybe I should blog everyday. I'm pretty sure it's easier for me to type 100 words about my day than it is for her to write it all out, but at least I'm doing something. Scooter is a very literal-minded girl. She balks when I suggest that she make up a weekend update to turn into school (you mean...make up my whole weekend?!). She resists when I suggest that she include something her brother did (it's not Bubba's weekend update, it's MY weekend update). She is frustrated at our insistence that she buckle down and write about her weekend with interesting words and sentences. But when I explained 100 words or 30 minutes - whichever is more, she lit up. She finally had a standard by which she can judge her own progress. It was like a weight was lifted off her shoulders. Which brings me to another weight she had on her shoulders until last night - her hair.
Since she got back from her Dad's this September, we've reminded her at every meal to put her hair up. Ben didn't care if it was a headband or a pony tail, but it shouldn't be in her food. I preferred pony tails. Once it gets to be a certain length, even a headband can't stop the ends from getting yogurt on them. Well...over the past month, we've really buckled down. She would lose a quarter from her allowance for every infraction (she usually gets $1.50 per week - so she was allowed 6 forgetful meals). Week 1, she lost 4 quarters. Week 2, 5. Week 3, she lost the whole allowance, which led to the next decree: If you have one more week of losing your whole allowance, we're cutting your hair. By Wednesday night, she had one quarter left. Thursday night through the next Monday would be spent with her dad. All she had to do was get through Thanksgiving dinner. She failed. Twice. There were tears. You see...all we heard for the past few months is that she HAS to have long hair because Vicky (name changed) wanted her to have long hair (and, as almost an afterthought, Scooter also wanted to have long hair). Well, I whipped out the long overused phrase, "If you can't take care of it, maybe you shouldn't have it."
She got back from her miserable weekend with her dad (I still have to get to that story, huh?), wrote for an hour and a half (see above), and sat down for dinner. She actually remembered a pony tail this time, but because we say what we mean, and we mean what we say, we told her we were going to go get her hair cut after dinner. She dawdled with dinner (ate a TON), and then escaped to her room w/ Bubba for a minute before I told her we had to go. She started crying. I asked her if she didn't want to get her haircut, and it all came out. No. It wasn't that. She just had a really boring weekend, and she wanted to play w/ Bubba.
She missed him this weekend. She said she kept telling her dad about other stuff to do, but all they did was something fun for 2 hours per day. Other than that, they were in their hotel room to watch football. I asked about that. Because on the train ride home, she talked about a lot of things they did. They went to the zoo (for 2 or 3 hours on Friday); they went to the Children's Museum (for 2 hours on Saturday), they went to 2 malls (one on Sunday and one on Monday). And shockingly, they stayed in Beaverton. I was told they'd be at the same hotel he's stayed at for the past 2 trips here. I guess plans changed? I thought I was supposed to be made aware of where she would be. Hm...
Apparently, her dad told her that they'd already done everything there was to do in Portland. When she asked him about ice skating, a show, some hiking, or a park downtown, he said they didn't have time. I wouldn't let her take any library books with her (she didn't grab any non-library books), so she was bored. I told her if it made her feel any better that we had a boring weekend, too, with mostly football. She said no, it didn't make her feel better. Because at home, she could at least play with Bubba, or actually go to a park if she asked. *Sigh* Man. What do you say to that, while still following a court order to encourage a healthy relationship with the other parent? She did everything an 8 year old can do to try to interact reasonably with her dad/stepmom, and still had a miserable time. I think overall, there were fun times, but the majority of her weekend was spent in a hotel room with the tv on. Ugh.
But anyway, I think my 100 words are up for the day. I'll conclude by saying that Scooter started out with a HUGE frowny-face in the salon chair last night, but ended up with huge smile. She said a few times last night (and a couple of times before I left for work this morning) how much she likes her hair short. I do, too. I'll have to post pics tomorrow. I'm beginning to wonder if she "forgot" about a headband/pony tail daily for 3 months in an attempt to get us to make her cut her hair. This way, when her dad/step mom come down on her about having short hair, she has someone to "blame" about it...
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