The family's baby

Chapter 58

*Grace's P.O.V*

As soon as we get home, I try to unbuckle myself so I can run inside. I of course can't quite get the buckles to undo themselves so I have to wait for Mommy's help, which doesn't help my mood. She eventually unbuckles me and I climb out of the seat, getting out of the car door that is opposite from where the car seat is. I use this opportunity to run inside, trying to dodge past Daddy who was in the kitchen.

"Grace, what's wrong?" Daddy asks as he tries to stop me but I duck under his arm, heading upstairs two steps at a time. I didn't want to talk to him or anyone else right now. I shut my door before going to curl up on my bed. I hesitate for a long minute when I see my bed is no longer my bed. There are now bars on my bed!

I stomp my feet as I throw myself on the ground, upset about the stupid bars and this terrible day. I didn't need them or a stupid booster or my teeth cleaned! I'm not a baby even though everyone is treating me like one and am more than capable of taking care of myself... well kind of. That still doesn't make me a baby. I feel tears fall down my face as I hit the ground, so angry and upset that I can't have anything my way anymore.

"Grace," I hear Daddy knock on the door and I curl up, not wanting to talk to anyone now or ever.

"Can you tell me what's going on?" He asks, opening the door slightly when I don't respond.

"I'm not a baby! I don't need a car seat or these stupid bars on my bed or any of this. I hate it! I hate it all and I hate the stupid dentist and how he made my teeth hurt and I hate how you guys treat all this like it's normal! It shouldn't be normal! It's not normal!" I say as I kick my shoes off, not bothering to untie the laces. Mommy had helped me put them on earlier and she makes things impossible to untie. So instead of trying, I just kick them off and then tug my socks off. I don't even understand why she tied them in the first place for me. I'm old enough that I know how to do it myself!

"Grace, I understand almost nothing of that. I can understand you having an issue with the treatment you have been receiving but I need more detail than you just hate random things or I can't help. What happened at the dentist and what is this whole car seat thing? You don't have a car seat, last I checked." Daddy says, actually sounding concerned.

"What happened is Grace was a nightmare the entire time we were at the dentist, her teeth were as bad as we expected and she had a lot of work done. And I mean a lot so she is probably in pain right now but is too stubborn to admit to it. As a small punishment for the dentist, I made her sit in Jazmin's booster on the ride home, which ended up being a good thing because we were stopped for an inspection by the police and told the booster isn't good enough for Grace so she will need her own seat to be properly protected in case of an accident. But this is just a good old fashioned tantrum, Matias. Nothing to be concerned about. Her finding out about the bars right now was just bad timing and added to it." Mommy tells him, clearing up his concerns and confusion but only making me madder.

"It. Is. Not! A! Tantrum!!" I yell at her, going over to a railing on my new bed and pulling on it, hoping it will come off. Of course it won't even budge no matter what I try though. I try everything I can think of until I break down into sobbing while still pulling on it.

"It's not a tantrum! I really do hate this! This bed is stupid! And ugly! And I hate it! It belongs in the trash! I want my old bed back! Give me my old bed back!" I say in a defeated manner through my tears with one last pull on the railing.

At this point mommy has come behind me and picks me up wordlessly into her arms. I wrap my legs tight around her waist and my arms around her neck. My head is also buried in her neck as I continue sobbing, not caring about crying into her hair. I feel mommy move to sit down on my bed and do so before beginning to rock me. With her hand free from holding me up since I'm now sitting on her lap, one hand is now on my back and one on the back of my head. She holds me close like that, just silently rocking me.

"It's not fair, mommy. Why do I have to be the baby? Why can't I just be a normal big girl? Why do I get all this special treatment? It's not fair, mommy! " I cry into her.

"Can you go make us lunch, Matias?" Mommy asks daddy, ignoring my questions and sobbing as she still rocks me.

"Huh? Sorry... what did you say?" Is all Daddy can say in response to mommy's question.

"Lunch, Matias. Can. You. Go. Make. It? We haven't eaten and some food will do us all some good. I'm thinking burgers... does that sound good to you?" Mommy asks daddy, continuing to ignore me crying into her.

"I hate that I'm your baby, mommy! I wish I was never adopted by you! Then I might have been normal!" I yell at her, again being completely ignored by mommy.

"Matias!! Burgers! Can you or can you not make them for lunch?" Mommy snaps at daddy when he doesn't respond.

"I can make them... I can... I will make them." Daddy finally answers. At least he seems to be paying attention to me but I don't care about him. I want mommy to pay attention to me!

"Good. Please go do that then. I will take care of Grace here and resolve all this." Mommy says and I assume daddy leaves because Mommy doesn't say anything else. She just continues to rock me silently and hold me tight to her.

I continue to sob into her and say whatever I can think of to try to get a reaction from her but nothing works. Eventually my tears dry up and I give up. I eventually try to sit up from her a couple times but mommy would always press me harder to herself every time I tried, preventing me from moving. Eventually, I just gave up on that too and just sat there in her arms. We continued sitting there with her rocking me for what felt like forever before she finally broke her silence.

"I think that's been long enough..." Mommy says, loosening her hold on me. I hesitate to still move though, afraid of this being some sort of trick and her tightening her hold again.

"Long enough? For what? For my crying?" I ask into her hair, muffled.

"No, dear. For your timeout." Mommy says, matter of factly. I sit up instantly at her revaluation with an open mouth.

"What do you mean timeout? For what? Haven't you been trying to comfort me by holding me?" I ask, shocked and betrayed, making her arch an eyebrow at me.

"I return the question... for what?" Mommy asks, sounding truly perplexed.

"For my sobbing! Haven't you been holding me to comfort me for everything I'm upset about?" I ask mommy, flabbergasted at her response.

"Child... Grace... I have 3 daughters and a granddaughter who are all very, very dramatic over the slightest misfortune. I learned long ago to tell the difference between a true sob and a sob for attention. You weren't sobbing because you needed to be comforted... you were sobbing because you wanted attention. It was a tantrum and I told you what would happen after you threw one. You would get a timeout to process your feelings and calm down... so I gave you that timeout on my lap. I think you reacted much better this way than if I put you in an actual timeout in the corner. I mean, you didn't even realize you were in timeout and stopped trying to get a reaction from me in record breaking time... at least for you." Mommy tells me with a shrug and I cross my arms at this injustice as I glare at her, forgetting about everything else!

"Oh, stop pouting... although it is pretty cute when you make that face. Now that you aren't in the middle of a tantrum, we need to have a serious conversation on what you were saying and what it could mean moving forward... Do you actually want to be treated as more of an adult? Do you actually hate the way you have been treated since you have been home or was it just your tantrum talking?" Mommy asks, cutting straight to the point...

So after Friday, I will be taking a two week break from posting updates to any story. The thing is, the chapter for Friday kind of ends on a cliffhanger so do y'all still want it? The next update after Friday won't be until the 1st of January so just a warning.