Gracie Scares Me

My mom leaves tomorrow. It makes me feel sad, because she and I have such a great friendship that even though I know I'll see her again (hopefully) soon, we still hate to say good-bye.

It also makes me feel a little scared.

I have loved having my mom / assistant / nanny here by my side to help me out all summer long. Now she is leaving and I'll be alone with all three kids for 6 more weeks. SIX! This might be the longest summer ever. Last year, with the move and the early school start here, the summer went by really fast.

This year, not so much.

And it isn't the older two, really, although they do argue and get on each other's nerves a lot. But for the most part they are fairly self-sufficient and can entertain themselves.

It's Grace.

Thank goodness she takes a big nap in the middle of the day.

And thank goodness Ro will be home every evening.

But she scares me.

She is independent and strong-willed and terrible in ways my other two never were. (Good thing, or I might not have continued having children!) Don't get me wrong - she is also a joy and a hoot and a blessing... but, as the song says, when she's bad, she's oh so bad.

For one thing - and I know you are not going to believe this - but apparently she can spell. I know you think I'm being super prideful here and exaggerating her brilliance, but I am not telling you this out of pride; I am telling you this out of fear. Seriously, the kid... well... here are a couple of examples.

On our trip to CA and back, Grace became terrified of bugs. It's Deb's fault, another story for another day, but she literally freaks out with them now. Especially flies, but all bugs are now seen as threats. We watched her stomp a roly-poly into oblivion yesterday and then say proudly, "I got it, Memaw."

So we're in the car and my mom and I are talking, and my mom says something to the effect of, "It's so weird that she's afraid of B-U-Gs."

(Do you spell around your little ones? My parents and grandparents used to do it around me and I'm finding I do it around mine, but I don't know if this is a common thing. Oh yeah, back to the story.)

I kid you not, Gracie looked at us and began to freak out, yelling, "Bugs! Bugs! Bugs!"

A fluke, right? I thought so, too, until a few nights ago when we were at the dinner table. Grace had just about finished her milk, and I said to the nanny, I mean my mom, "I don't think she should have any more M-I-L-K," when Grace looked right at us and said, "I want milk! I WANT milk! MILK!!!"

Context, possibly. It still scares me. I can't spell around her now, and she knows more Spanish than I do, and sign language as well. How the heck am I supposed to talk about things that I don't want her to hear?!

So she scares me. There's the fact that she can spell. And speak Spanish. And understand sign language. And there's also the fact that she does the whole devil voice as if she's possessed when she wants something and isn't getting the expected immediate response.

And there's also the fact that she thinks that SHE is the mom.

I was in a shop the other day looking at the cutest little teapots that would look so sweet above my cabinets in the kitchen, when I heard Grace from her stroller say, in a singsong voice, "Don't touch..." Then she got more stern: "Don't touch, Mommy. Mommy, don't touch." And then... loudly and firmly: "BETH! DON'T TOUCH THAT!"

And yes, I put the teapot back and sat down in my chair.