I need a scorecard
Sarcasm works with kids.

C., however, needs something else.

She merrily took off today, saying something about going to church. She did this twice. It did not occur to me, however, to check and see if T had approved that. She couldn't be so brazen as to lie to me, could she? Just toddle off without telling either me or her mother? Without seeking approval? Just...."I'm going to church." The lady seems nice, by the way, just...kind of.....you know.....determined.

C had an 'accident' and left her shit-smeared underwear in the bathroom, along with her PJs. You know, one of these days instead of yelling out the door for the kid to come home, I'm going to take her ear and use that as a handle.

So, C is grounded tomorrow, which means somebody will have to stay with her. She took off without permission, whined about it besides----"But you said it was okay!"-----and then sulked so badly I sent her to her room. She's so passive that I have to check her every move. Sweep the kitchen floor? She does part of it and says there's 'stuff' there or that she can't find the dustpan. Clean her room? That means.....I'm not sure what it means, but there's shit all over the floor. "But it's not mine!"

"It's dust, it's in your room, congratulations."

K was really upset today over how C. 'gets away with shit all the time.' This was the first time I realized that C had taken off without any permission at all. Oh, and in doing so, she screwed up K's chance of getting to go to the lake, because---duh----she didn't check with anybody before she took off. This meant K was stuck at home in the humid neighborhood while her BFF's house got raided. So I can understand her point. K gets stuck with all the responsibilites, but gets few of the rewards. C seems to have no responsibilities and gets frankly spoiled. However, cries tonight that C 'gets to sleep over every night!' were not greeted well by me because what happened was that C had diarrhea, at which I throw up my inexperienced--and squeamish----hands.

So, before I go to bed---after showing K part of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet (----like, is there some other R&J out there?)----I have to write down a conversation we just had.

"I heard a noise."

"Where?"

"In the bathroom."

"What did it sound like?"

"I don't know."

"OMG."

"Like a cat scratching?"

"In this house?"

"Oh, shut it."

"That's....twenty two seconds of my life I won't get back."

"C'mon, will you look?"

She followed behind me and I checked the window, the screen, and the tub. "Oh, God!"

"What?!"

"You didn't rinse out the tub."

She punched me, then kissed me goodnight. Ah, kids.

Tomorrow we'll be making water balloons out of condoms, and C will be finishing her chores and learning the difference between telling the truth and....not saying anything at all.

ARgh.

I've shaved down the evil seroquel to about one-thirty secondth of a pill. We'll see how it goes. Ugh.