Peace and.....

My house is quiet. I am the only person in it. I love quiet.
I am a person who has no problems with being alone. I enjoy solitude. I have an older cousin who is the opposite and to this day will go to a family members house or to a friends if her husband is out of town. Why am I reveling in my alone-ness? Why is there no one else here?

Heavy.....deep.......DEEP.....sigh.....

The girls went to visit my parents for a few nights about 150 miles away but today The Husband had to go and get them because they have been asked to leave early.
Yup, kicked out of Grandma's house.
My Mom and I talked for about an hour last night. She had my 16 month old nephew for the 3 days before my girls got there and so she claims she was exhausted before my kids even arrived. Then she says Genea has been great but Teena has been a handful. During the conversation I heard my mother firmly directing Teena no less than 17 times. Get down from there. Why are you playing on the stairs. Go sit down. Get your feet off the sofa. Etc. I know Teena has just been on a rampage lately, ever since Genea started school without her, but she had settled down at home.
This is how Teena is sometimes. There are kids on this planet, many kids even, who when told to Go Sit Down, go and sit. Teena will skip or frog walk to the chair. Then she will turn the chair around. Then she will try to climb it backwards. She will test to see how far she can lean. She will sit on her knees. She will sit with her feet on the chair too. She will tap on the side of the chair like it is a drum. She will lick the back of the seat and try to jam her fingers in openings to see if they will fit. This is just how she is sometimes. It can be maddening. We load her up with plenty of discipline and redirection and positives and all the rest of it. At the same time I have to admit that I love this about her. She is creative and independent and fearless and (pardon my cliches) she thinks outside the box. She is whip smart and is teaching herself to read. She is 3 1/2 and I caught her the other day sounding out the words on some of my old therapy cards of feelings. She does not do things the regular way. She puts her own spin on just about everything. When she starts to go too far, some time on the Bad Baby Rug will usually straighten her out quickly.
I think my mom wants to have the girls and just have fun. She does not want to get into discipline with them, she wants to be the Grandma and spoil them rotten. Which is great, her mother was that way with my sister and I, and we adored her. But with young children, I think you just have to lay down the law a few times and assert your boundaries. I don't know how to impress this on her other than telling her over and over. To be honest here folks, this may not be pretty but I need a break from these kids once in awhile or I am going to jump off a bridge. My parents are the only people the girls can stay with overnight and I neeeeeeeeed this desperately. Desperately!
My mom said on a previous visit....." Teena is soooo smart. She does things most kids would never even think of". I chose to take this as a compliment but maybe I should have taken it more as a warning!