emotionless

The other night as I walked in the door from work I couldn't help but noticing my six year old little girl had a band-aid on her chin. The band-aid was even more prevalent than her two missing front teeth that make me laugh every time I see her.

When I asked her what happened, she shrugged. Not unusual for a girl that sticks on band-aids, daily, for no reason. Then my eight year old son volunteered that they had bumped chins. When I asked how, they both couldn't seem to tell me. Furthermore his lip was scraped, not his chin. Upon further investigation we learned that Abby had talked Ethan into trying out Mommy's razor. Then she tried it herself even after she seeing Ethan cut himself. They then agreed to lie about their injuries.

Upon realizing they had been caught, and punishment would be severe, my son went to pieces. He's very sensitive, so this wasn't a surprise. As I was trying to calm him down without letting off the hook, I looked at my daughter to see her reaction. To be honest what I saw bothered me.

She didn't seem upset at all. Instead she seemed to be studying my son's reaction and how we were dealing with it. Not because she was worried about her brother either. It was almost like she was trying to figure out where she went wrong and got caught. She didn't care that she cut her chin, she didn't care we were upset and mad, she didn't care that we were punishing her. She showed no emotions at all.

After I calmed her brother down, I asked her why she wasn't upset. She just shrugged her shoulders. I then tried to explain the seriousness of what she had done. No response. Finally, with nothing left in my parenting arsenal to use, I dismissed her to her room. Only then did I see a little emotion. A very slight, almost undetectable grin crept across her lips. Frankly, it freaked me out a little bit. 

My oldest has always been head strong like Abby but, like his little brother, wears his emotions on his sleeves. Push him enough and you'll soon find out where his head is. Abby seems to have too much control over her emotions. That's a new one for me and I'm not sure where it's going to take us but I have a feeling it's not going to be a fun place.