Oh Say Can You Say?

It starts off as silly, sweet little things like:

“The sun is sick. It has a cold. That’s why it rains.”
[Super fitting considering whose mouth it came out of…. And EEWWW!]

Then they get a little older and on the way out the door, they mimic:

“Let’s bounce.”
[Little ‘twang’ on the “-ounce” included.]

At 10, it’s the fourth time you tell then to do the dishes when:

“I know, I will. Whatever.”
[And you’re sure you caught a bit of a head roll.]

At 10!?!?!
Wait, did I go wrong? This shouldn’t happen. Surely not so early! At 10 I believe my dad would have catapulted me into sometime the next year.

Speaking of my dad, I think he’s grown soft in his old age. On one visit my 13-year-old sister said “crap” … right next to my father! It didn’t faze him. I’ve made that little mistake, but mine was only:

“That sucks!”
[Which landed me in the next month.]

I happen to like Snotface, and would like to keep her, so rather than toss her into some unknown time frame, I decided to explain it to her. Its not wash-your-mouth-with-soap status.

We had an hour long discussion on how ‘whatever’ could be a bad word.

“Mommie, whatever.”
Ggrrrr.
“At school I can say it. It's not a bad word.”
“Okay,” I reasoned. “If you said you were hurt or hungry and I said “whatever”, how would you feel?”

I’m pretty sure she gets it now.


personality traits

Committed to What?.... Grrr.

This year I signed Snot-face up at The Boys and Girls Club. I didn’t before because 1) I couldn’t’ afford it and 2) it doesn’t really suit my needs. I do school all day, a half-hour from where I live, and then straight to work, another ten minutes from school. B&G closes at six; I get off work at earliest, 7:30. With San Francisco here now, it’s possible.

I’m already obligated to $34 a week, that’s for two days and even if she doesn’t go. That’s the contract, fine. But… over this break, I was told that if she comes in I have to pay an extra $11… each day. That’s a load of bologna! Why are they allowed to do that? I get that it’s a longer day when they are out of school, but I was out of school too, so she didn’t go until three.

I’m in such a funk that I don’t want Snot-face to go anymore, except that I stand by stability, even with activities. But gee-wiz! It’s bad enough that our needs aren’t served, but paying for them not to be is ridiculous.

Somehow I don’t think Denzel Washington wanted to endorse a program that would rip-off the poor single moms of America. If I recall, his commercials said between 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. and were geared toward the working poor. We don’t necessarily work 9-to-5s.
I feel stuck in this system built for a white-picket-fence-cookie-cutter world and my little family is just too messy.

2009 Childcare statistics in California