According to Jodi. . .

I need to start blogging regularly. She's probably right, and she even gave me some blogging ideas. Some of which I will use. I think I would like to designate Monday as Monday Madness. I can share whatever craziness has gone on in the Blount household the previous week.

Like last week was a gem! You see, we had just got home from George's party and Grace decided that she was going to turn Helen-Kate's room into a classroom complete with a dry erase board taped to the wall. As she wrote on the board, her marker would slip off the board leaving stray red marks on the wall. Grace, being the wise and responsible 7 year old, comes to me and tells me that she has accidentally written on the wall. She is upset but truthful.

I go to Helen-Kate's room to inspect the damage, and sure enough there are red markings on the wall. So I begin to interrogate her as to why she taped the board to the wall, after her dad had removed it from the wall earlier. She gets upset, starts to cry, and goes to her dad.

Andy comes in as I am cleaning the wall, turning that beautiful glossy finish to a dull ugly mess. He tells me that Grace has decided that if things do not get any better around here by the end of the week, she is going to move in with her Nana.

Now the madness begins...Grace and I have a little pow-wow. I tell Grace to go ahead and pack up and sit on Nana's front porch until Nana gets home. Grace starts crying and says, "I said that if things didn't get better by the end of the week I would go live with Nana." Again, I state go ahead and pack. Grace then becomes even more upset, and yells, "I SAID BY THE END OF THE WEEK!"

By now, the madness has decided to have a seat and sit a spell. I inform Grace, not to worry about packing, because she was not going to take anything I've provided for her, and she can march herself in the PJs and flip flops Nana has bought her and head on out. Grace then storms out of her room.

Grace is upset, and decides that I am the one who needs to chill. So I give him the look of a crazed woman, took a deep breath and told Grace to come sit with me. Maybe we would find out what is really going on. So Grace crawled up in my lap.

Grace said, "I am tired of being blamed for things Anna does." So I go through the events of the evening asking who did what. Each time Grace quietly responds, "I did. "

Then Grace says, "No one appreciates me, except Helen-Kate." I remind Grace how much we all love and appreciate her.

Now can someone tell me...Is this just a glimpse of the madness to come as she and I get older? I asked Grace this weekend if things have gotten better. Grace smiled and said, "Yes, mommy."