life skillz, not that fun akshully

for the last two weeks the girl has been looking forward to this weekend with anticipation because this is her weekend to bring home a baby doll as part of her life skills class. this is not just ANY baby doll. it is a life-like baby boy that cries at will. you can stop the crying (supposedly) by inserting one of the plastic keys into the baby's control box in its back. there's a key for diaper change, feeding, burping, attention and a panic key. the girl got home at 2:06pm (she opted not to stay after for extra credit orchestra practice because of the baby) and by 2:20pm she'd already put the panic key in. she called the school to ask the teacher some questions. she broke down in tears. i don't think we'll be leaving the house much this weekend.

about an hour into the weekend and i think she's decided having a baby isn't such a great idea after all. i can only imagine what it's going to be like when this thing cries in the middle of the night or early in the morning.

when i was in high school and had home and family living class, we had to carry an egg around for a week without breaking it. we had to bring it to school every day. not quite as sophisticated as this baby, but it was the same premise.

so, for this weekend i am a nana of sorts : ) ha

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in other parenting news, my mom has taken up permanent residence in fantasy land. i think i mentioned that they used part of the money they got when my grandma died (it will be a year in a couple of weeks) to buy a camper in wv. my mom has deluded herself into thinking this will be the THING that makes our family like the walton-like image she has in her mind. last weekend she told us her plan for this year and the camper (neglecting to tell us she'd not yet shared this grand scheme w/ my dad yet). she plans to go to the camper (4-5 hrs away) at least once a month once the season starts. she plans to take the grandsons one weekend and the granddaughters another. she wants all of us (my family, my bro's family and my sister's family) to spend july 4th up there--some in the camper some in rentals she'd pay for.

yesterday the hubs stopped by and chatted w/ my dad, telling him the myriad reasons this isn't going to work. one being that me, my sil and my sister are unemployed and if we get a job between now and then we won't have the time off. if we don't, we certainly won't have the money to be running up and down the highway. the hubs also pointed out that my parents don't have the relationship w/ my kids that would be required for us to let them go out of state w/ them for the weekend.

i feel sorry for my mom because i really think she thought this camper-dream of hers would turn our family into something it's not. we don't spend a lot of time w/ them now--when we live 20 minutes from each other, why would we all get together 5 hours from here? it also irritates me because how can she be so obtuse that she doesn't see that a camper isn't going to fix things? trying to force us together isn't going to fix things. things are what they are. i don't have ill will towards them right now, but neither do i want to spend any extra time w/ them. keeping them at arm's length works for me. the mom in me can see why she is hurt--she doesn't have good relationships w/ her kids/grandkids--and i would curl up and die if my kids felt this way about me. the child in me can't help not caring so much--this is what happens when you spend your life putting yourself first.