Other People's Kids

Furious Pace

The last few months I haven't posted much because there wasn't much to say. The last couple weeks I haven't posted much because I'm mostly exhausted at the end of each eventful day.

We now have "Tammy", "Jill" and "Celeste" ensconced in their semi-permanent rooms. We've dealt with internecine warfare between "Jill" and "Celeste", and also between "Jill" and a girl we take for respite once a month or so. Yes, "Jill" is, as advertised, the mother of all drama queens, and can be very abrasive when she decides she doesn't need to care how she's affecting other people. Sigh. We'll have to work on that.

Tonight I could tell The Wife was coming to the end of her rope, so I marshaled what pathetic forces we have available and forced them to attack the yard with us. I'd call it a moderate success, actually. The low point was when "Tammy" made an unusually disgusting wuss of herself by refusing to use the pooper scooper to pick up dog crap. Seriously, folks...you don't have to touch the stuff. You barely have to look at the stuff. You just have to use the scoop to pick it up and toss it in a bucket, after which you pitch it over the fence and into the woods. Voila. I would have loved to trade her that for mowing, but we can't have the Little Darlings hurting themselves, can we?

Yesterday we went to celebrate Fathers' Day with Dad, and besides the normal three, "Josie" tagged along. Apparently she had things to talk to Mom about. She claimed to hate Mom (same as she told me she hated me a time or two) but now she LOVES to go see my folks. They do have that effect on people. Up until the last few years, I guess I hated her and loved her, too. Sorry, Mom, but I did.

Anyway, our new charges seem to be settling in nicely and actually starting to get onto something of an even keel with us and with each other. It's fascinating to get to know kids with such widely varying personalities and backgrounds, and it's almost as fascinating to see them interact with each other and with the pets. No need to even have satellite TV, really, with this kind of entertainment in the kitchen and living room every night.

Hopefully the pace will slacken a little more as the routine normalizes and I'll be able to focus on smaller bits.

Oh, and just to document this: "Jill" is the most boy-crazy girl I've ever seen with the notable exception of "Josie".

posted by Dan @ 8:24 PM