sorry, have these sweatshirts inconvenienced you? #6-13

This is the locker that is technically
 Lad's.  While he is away at college I keep
the kids sweatshirts and diapers in here.  Can
you imagine ordering me to find another place for
 the other families' things because her husband
couldn't be bothered with details.  The nerve.

Bear with me - this is saving me lots of dough because I am venting here rather than heading to my therapist's office.  It's them, not me, right?  Work with me here, people.  I would love to read your comments about Narcey and Arrogant and the behavior they find acceptable:

6.  'Can we just put these sweatshirts somewhere else?':  In the fall when the weather is chilly in the mornings, but hot as Hell in the afternoons, most kids I sit for show up with a sweatshirt.  Arrogant reached into the mudroom locker where I keep all of the babysitting kids' stuff and grabbed all of the sweatshirts and brought them home.  Regularly.  Narcey would show up the next morning and replace the sweatshirts that didn't belong to her kids.  One day she hollered, 'Can we just keep these somewhere else?'  Other people's stuff was confusing her husband and inconveniencing her.  Exhibit A of how the world revolves around Narcey.  Um, maybe you need to tell Arrogant to look at the label and see if his kids' names are in there.

7.  'I will bring his food.'  Narcey and I brainstormed one day about ways to try to get Zach to eat better.  Maybe he would prefer lunch from home?  She agreed one day to pack his lunch.  The next day she showed up and told me that she didn't bring his lunch, because 'it really isn't a texture thing'.  Eventually when the puking persisted, she did bring his food . . . and Suzie's.  Why?  Because she said, 'it wouldn't be fair.'

8.  'What do they eat for breakfast?':  Out of the blue Narcey asks me this after the door slam incident.  Weird?!  Like suddenly what I was offering (a bowl of cereal and a banana) wasn't sufficient.  Hello,  microscope!

9.  'You can't believe anything they say' with a laugh rather than a correction.:  Narcey asked me one day in October if they were eating OK for me.  (I apologize that this is out of order, because the #8 breakfast comment happened long after this issue.  I am operating on a stream of consciousness mindset).  I pointed out that I only offered them breakfast on the mornings when they told me they hadn't eaten at home.  Most mornings (starting in the middle of October - when they were just picking at their breakfast) they told me that they had already eaten breakfast.  She laughed and said she NEVER fed them in the morning and that I couldn't believe anything they said.  I was confused about why she was laughing.  They are 4 years old.  Don't you want to tell them that it isn't OK to lie?  I also suspect that they did eat a little something before coming to my house, because I don't think they were making it up.  I think she just wanted them to be offered more food.

10.  wardrobe malfunction -the over-sized shirt under the tiny shirt:  I am all about being on a budget.  My kids wore hand-me-downs from cousins and friends for as long as they were offered.  My kids never, ever looked silly.  Narcey regularly dressed Suzie in a super-big, over-sized Disney t-shirt in the fall.  She also wore leggings and a teeny-tiny long sleeved shirt over the short-sleeved shirt.  If Arrogant is driving a Tesla I am guessing that they might be able to budget for some clothing that fits the kids properly.  Not to mention, why would you layer clothes that don't layer well?  Put her in a sweatshirt of a sweater.

11.  doesn't teach them to wipe or wash hands:  about 3 weeks ago, I alerted Narcey that her kids needed to be able to wipe themselves.  They are 4.  I assume it is a requirement at the preschool anyway.  Narcey agreed.  I told her that I showed Suzie how to wipe that day.  Last week, Zach was pooping with the bathroom door open.  I poked my head in and asked him if he knew how to wipe.  No.  He didn't.  Why hadn't she shown them this?  Suzie failed to flush in the basement bathroom one day last week.  After school, I asked the kids who pooped in the basement.  Suzie admitted it was her.  There was very little toilet paper in the pot.  Had she washed her hands?  No.  I didn't think she could wash her hands on her own and I had told her multiple times to come and find me so that I could help her wash her hands whenever she pooped.  Why in the world would Narcey not have drilled that into her too?  Gross.

OK, I know..  My sketches don't look
like 4 year olds.  Maybe that is because
 they are sporting huge crucifixions around
 their little spindly necks?  Ever think about that? 
I know, I could have spent  more time on the
sketches, but God knows I have some Christmas
 prep to do too.  Tree is undercoated.  Gifts are
not wrapped - not all of them are bought yet
either.  Work with me here.  These idiots have
 thrown me into a frenzy.  AND it's Christmas time.

12.  undershirts in 90 degree weather:  No idea.  I would strip their undershirts off of them when we were out at a park.  Why????

13.  crucifixion wall hangings tied around their necks with a shoestring:  I am all about religion, but I fail to understand why Narcey sent her kids to my house ince wearing a small crucifixion tied around their neck with a shoestring.  (6 inches by 3 inches -small for a wall, but enormous for these 4 year olds who wear like a size 2 or 3T)  She once asked me not to let the kids play on my swing-set unless I was outside.  I adjusted my rules and said they could only play on my gated deck unless someone was outside with them, even though I could see everyone at my swing-set clearly thru my kitchen window and they were 4 not 2!  Anyway, if she is so interested in their safety how was she not concerned that they were not going to jump off my toy castle in the basement and get their wall-hanging caught on the turret and impale themselves?