Scatterbrained

Most mornings, Alyssa wakes up and hits the floor running. She has a couple of chores each morning that she’s really good about. She had to feed Bomber, the red betta fish and make sure Orville had food and fresh water.

She then starts gathering the plethora of items she wants to take to Gram’s each day. It’s not as if my mom doesn’t have her own collection of toys, games and assorted items to keep the kids occupied each day. Oh no, that’s not the case at all. Alyssa just wants to be sure she won’t get bored.

The thing is, she rarely even opens the bag of stuff she takes each day. But does that stand in her way of schlepping it back and forth each day? No, no it does not.

And see, she’s so preoccupied with which horses she might want to play with and which game she might decide she needs to try and teach Olivia and Jaxon to play, that she forgets the more fundamental things.

For example, on Tuesday, she and my step-dad had to make a run to our house (only three miles away, remember) so Alyssa could get a swimsuit. She’d worn every single one home and had none at Gram’s in which to swim.

So on Wednesday, I grabbed one of A’s suits and put it by her shoes so she could take it with her.

When we arrived that morning, I told my mom proudly that Alyssa had brought a swimsuit that day so she and Pawp would have to drive over and get one. Alyssa gave me a look of shock. Then she shook her head. “Maybe it’s in the car?” she suggested doubtfully.

It wasn’t. She’d left it laying right where I’d put it. I think she might have even had to move the suit in order to put her shoes on. She’s lucky Tom decided to make the drive over and take it to her later in the day.

This morning, though, was even worse. It’s Thursday so the girls are spending the night with Gram because Jaxon is there and, well, that’s just what they all do on Thursday nights these days. I packed bags for both A and O with pajamas, clothes for tomorrow, etc.

Alyssa packed a separate bag of stuff.

She also went out and played with Orville for a while as Olivia and I continued getting ready to leave.

We headed out the door and caught Alyssa on her way back in. She didn’t go back in, she just climbed into the car and off we went.

As we were getting out of the car at my mom’s Alyssa opened her door and then stopped, looking down at her feet.

The child had forgotten her shoes. Her SHOES!

She laughed at her own scatterbrained behavior and then stopped suddenly, remembering that she can’t ride her new-to-her bike without shoes. She looked at me with near-panic. I told her I’d call her dad and see if he was planning another trip that would take him anywhere near Gram’s house.

She relaxed. Alyssa knows her daddy. If she needs something, he’ll find a way to get it to her.

And he did. I called him and shared the new of our shoeless daughter. He said he’d make it over there at some point but wasn’t going to drop everything right that second and take it to her.

I thanked him and suggested that this is normal nine-year-old behavior. I hope that’s what it is. Poor girl. She’ll outgrow this flightiness, right?

I did.

Sort of.