Chip and I spent the weekend with our friends Catarina, Keith, and their kids DB and MR. We had Christmas with them and DB's cute girlfriend Friday night.
Catarina and I needed some serious chick time, so since Keith had to work Saturday, she asked Chip if he would mind helping DB "babysit" MR. MR was going to have a little friend over to play.
The little boy, whom I'll call Sam, was cute as a button. He is hyper with some attention deficit, but obviously very bright. I couldn't believe that child's vocabulary and reasoning skills. When Catarina told MR and Sam that they had to be good for Uncle Chip, MR said with a touch of impatience, "We wiiiiiiilllllllll." To which Sam added, "That was sarcasm. When you say it 'long' like that, it's sarcasm and you don't really mean it." I almost fell off my chair. (The child is eight years old.)
Catarina and I took off shopping. When we returned, it was almost 4:00. Keith was getting off work at 4:00, and we were all going to Chili's for dinner. Sam's grandmother or mother was supposed to come pick Sam up.
Catarina tried to call Sam's mother to let her know we'd be leaving for dinner soon. No answer. She tried to call the mother's cell; no answer. She left a message. Then she tried to get hold of the Sam's grandmother. No answer at home, no answer on the cell. She left messages.
Keith wanted to get to the restaurant because he works near Chili's and saw on the way home that the parking lot was packed. So Catarina left more messages saying that we were taking Sam to dinner with us at Chili's. She even left a note on the door in case they came by.
We hustled to Chili's, taking two cars, and when we arrived, we were told that there would be an hour wait to seat a party of seven. We stood around debating about going somewhere else when Catarina's cell phone rang. It was Sam's grandmother. Catarina told her that we were with Sam at Chili's but we couldn't get in because there was a long wait, and she asked if we should bring Sam home or if Granny wanted to come get him.
Granny's reply: "Well, there's a Christmas party I want to go to, and if I come to pick up Sam, I can't go to the party."
Catarina was speechless, but she stammered out that it was okay, she would feed Sam and Granny could come get her later. When she hung up, she was angry. I told her that she should call Granny right back and tell her to come get the kid, but Catarina didn't feel she could do that. (I love my best friend with all my heart, but sometimes I wish she had a little more spine.)
So … instead of going someplace else to eat, since we were stuck with Sam for a while, Keith decided we'd just get food to go. And MR and Sam decided they didn't want anything from Chili's, so Catarina said she would either make something for them or share her dinner with them. DB took the kids home and Catarina, Keith, Chip and I waited for the food. Catarina was desperately trying to figure out some way of amusing Sam and MR for the rest of the evening and decided they could help bake Christmas cookies. (Yikes!)
By the time we got the food home, it was cold. Catarina portioned out some of her hamburger to give MR and Sam, then returned to the kitchen saying Sam didn't eat hamburgers (I don't either, so I couldn't fault the kid for that). He wanted a quesadilla. Fortunately Keith had ordered quesadilla, so he gave some to Sam. With the kids given food and ensconced in front of the TV with a movie, Catarina finally sat down to eat.
Then the phone rang. It was Sam's grandmother. Catarina said, "Oh, is your party over?" Apparently so, since she said she was coming to get Sam.
I anticipated a tantrum, as MR and Sam had just started watching the movie. However, I did not get to see or hear what happened because everything had upset me so that I began to feel sick and had to go lie down for a while.
I can't believe how some parents just dump their kids on other people and then want to go have their own fun. Nor can I believe Catarina took it.
Other than that, we had a pretty good, though exhausting, weekend.
