Thursday, November 11, 2021Karma
I made a BIG mistake.
I think we've adequately established that Mila is the sweetest little girl in all the land, but she has ideas and makes choices that are perhaps less than ideal. She "forgets" a lot, it seems, but when she says "I forgot" and is referring to things like "You're not allowed to use the scissors without asking" and "Stay away from the Sharpies," I think maybe she remembered and just plain didn't care. I mean, I'm not sure that you forget that you were told to stay out of the Halloween candy and then hide behind the couch to eat it and stash the wrappers under the couch. That seems like maybe it's a stretch to say you "forgot."
And yet, despite all of the bad choices that "accidentally" happen when Mila isn't being closely watched, I didn't sign her up for after school care this year. She gets home from school at 3:45 and I wrap up meetings by 4:00 most days. I work past 4:00, but on most days she does her homework next to me while I finish up whatever needs to be finished up. By the time she completes her homework, there are other people home to keep her from doing things I'll regret. Basically, it's pretty easy to piece together her late afternoons.
But, oh. OH. Not being signed up for after school means she's not signed up for full-day care when there isn't school. That should be fine because she has a big sister who can contain the bad choices, but that big sister happens to work at the after school care place.
So, you probably know where this is going. Parent teacher conferences were last week. Mila had nowhere to go, but Alexis had to work. That means I had a day filled to the brim with meetings and a Mila on the loose.
RUH-ROH.
The good news is that she didn't do anything that caused real harm. The bad news is that she went around the house and renamed every single Alexa speaker in our house. As in, they used to all be named Alexa, but now I don't know what name they will respond to because Mila doesn't remember what their new name(s) are.
I realize there is a way to fix this, but the chaos that has ensued is too much fun. Mila leaves music playing in her room every morning, which results in my yelling, "ALEXA STOP" except now she's not Alexa so she totally doesn't listen. Even I can admit it's a little bit funny.
But Alexa also doesn't listen to Mila. Mila talks to Alexa approximately 2359871234 times per day because she absolutely MUST know how many days it is until every holiday she can name, what every word she hears means, the answer to various math problems, and a whole assortment of completely random questions. At some point the kid figured out that asking me why shoes are called "shoes" is pointless because I never answer. Alexa is far more helpful.
Except not now because she doesn't know her name.
It's always pretty spectacular when a kid causes chaos but that chaos mostly only hurts her. I'd tell Mila to ask Alexa what "karma" means, but we all know she won't answer.
