Today was another exciting day for young Dora. After missing the bus yesterday, she was determined not to repeat that mistake today. However, either her haste or her anger worked against her this morning. She did a lousy job on her morning chores, and left her glasses at home today. I think the latter was most likely premeditated, as this is by no means the first time those glasses have not been doing her any good.


I didn’t notice the missing glasses when she left this morning (I think I was supposed to!) but I did notice as she disembarked the bus. I happened to be out walking the dogs. Beth was at home and I had left Beth instructions about what Dora was to do when she came in the house. As I requested, Dora was at the kitchen table working on homework when I returned from my walk. She still didn’t have her glasses on. I commented that she must not need them very much … no problem for me, but perhaps we might expect her to contribute (in the form of chores) some of the money invested in those (unnecessary) glasses.


At this point, she insisted she needed to leave the table and retrieve her glasses. I said if they were needed for schoolwork, she would have retrieved them before she sat down at the table to do her homework (never mind taking them to school), so I declined to let her get them. She became quite irate, and stated she just wouldn’t do her work until she got her glasses. “No problem for me!” I declared! She very quickly took that one back and shifted to pleading and cajoling. Alas, no luck there either. She stayed at the table.


Shortly after that, we left to take Beth to swim practice. When we returned, Dora stated she still had homework to complete. She had ample opportunity once again to get her glasses, but soon was back at the kitchen table, working on her homework, without glasses. I pointed that fact out to her, and surprise, surprise, her mood went south ...


She tried quite diligently to provoke me. I performed my best PIZAZZ a la Deborah Hage. When she said I could “do whatever I wanted to do” I was quite grateful that I had her permission to do so. When she didn’t like my answer to some provocative question, she declared she was "just sharing her feelings" and then she informed me I wasn’t doing my job as a mother so she would just share her feelings with the therapist on Friday. I said that was fine, that’s what we were paying her for … Next it was the statement that what she really wanted was to talk to the therapist alone … When I stopped laughing, I assured her that would not happen. She was completely blown away by my dramatic and unpredictable responses, and by her inability to get any kind of negative reaction from me whatsoever. My husband said she has met her match!


Her tune changed again, just as quickly, and she was compliant and conciliatory by bedtime. We rocked, as usual, and off to bed she went.


As part of my normal “day in the life” events, I had a unique experience when I took the dogs for a walk. I walk all five at once, but I let the four young ones do this running-around routine where they play keep-away with a tennis ball. It is quite a free-for-all, and they all rush to get under the garage door as soon as it starts to leave the ground. Gracie, the pup, managed to get her collar caught in the rubber gasket at the bottom of the door. As I start to follow the dogs out of the garage, I see the pup’s front feet start to elevate off the ground. She’s not struggling or making a sound. I grabbed her (she weighs at least 45 pounds) and was just trying to find the quick release for the collar when it pulls through the rubber and she’s released. She didn’t seem distressed at all. She’s a laid-back pup, for sure, but still—her confidence that I would fix this problem was remarkable. Isn't trust a wonderful thing?


Just another day at the office!

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