Lost In The Shuffle

[justagirl4fun]

"But she pushed me first, and hit me!" Judith protested loudly. "She's always hurtin' me an' I'm sick of it!"

"I don't care what she did. We've been over this a hundred times. She doesn't know any better. And we need her to feel safe and loved here. We can't punish her because she doesn't understand. You know better. Now you can go sit in the corner until your father gets home, and when he does, you're getting a spanking." Abbie kept her voice low and calm, so as to not frighten Hazel, but there was fire in her eyes and Judith knew better than to argue any more even though she felt Abbie was overreacting, especially since this was only the second time she'd fought back against Hazel; the first time has been Hazel's first day home, before Abbie had laid out the rules. "Okay baby, you want to finish coloring with Rosie now?" she asked sweetly after rocking Hazel,for a few minutes.

[Shy-Diapers]

Hazel nodded after she felt a little better. She climbed off Abbie's lap and went to back to scribbling on the paper while Rosie colored and looked sympathetically over st her sister.

[justagirl4fun]

"She pushed Hazel and twisted her arm...must've been pretty hard, the way Hazel was screaming. I told her she'd get a spanking when you got home," Abbie informed Jeff as she stirred the soup.

[Shy-Diapers]

John shook his head. This was not what he was hoping for when he got home. He entered the living room and greeted Rosie and Hazel before approaching Judith, taking her upstairs to her bed so she could get over his knee. "Judith you know better than to hit your sister. She doesn't know any better."

[justagirl4fun]

Judith meekly followed John upstairs, but balked when he tried to put her over his knee. "No please daddy don't I won't do it again!" she begged as she backed away and burst into tears.

[Shy-Diapers]

"I don't want to spank you, but you know better than to hit your sister. She doesn't know any better. And we can't teach her right from wrong until she trusts us." John said calmly but sternly. He never liked to punish his children but sometimes it was necessary.

[justagirl4fun]

"But it's not fair! She does this to me, an' I can't do nuffin'?" Judith protested as she rolled up her sleeves. The newest bite was still an open wound, pink and tender around the edges; there were at least half a dozen more in various stages of healing. On her left cheek were four scratches, one just narrowly missing her eye, and her whole body was dotted in bruises. Hazel might be little but she was fierce, especially if she thought Judith was trying to take Abbie's attention from her. "She won't even let me get near mommy, an' she doesn't let me play with Rosie! What am I 'possed to do, stay in my room all by myself forever?"

[Shy-Diapers]

John sighed. "She has to understand us before we can teach her what's right and wrong. I know it's hard but you can't hit her." He motioned one more time for Judith to get over his lap.

[justagirl4fun]

Judith did as she was told with tears pouring down her cheeks. It just didn't seem fair.

[Shy-Diapers]

John delivered 10 decent slaps. He felt awful spanking his daughter, but a time out just wasn't cutting it. After he was done, he set Judith on her feet and gave her a hug.

[justagirl4fun]

Judith tried to push her father away. She still felt the spanking was a rather harsh punishment for only fighting back once after taking months of abuse from her adopted sister. "I hate you!" she cried, the years falling even faster than before. "An' I hate mommy, an' I 'specially hate Hazel! You should send her back to China, 'cause she's no good!" she spat as she rubbed her sore bottom. "She's mean, an' ugly, an' stupid an' I hate her

[Shy-Diapers]

John frowned. He gave his daughter one more swat after that. "Judith I know you're upset but you know better than to talk that way about your family. Go to the corner for a while. I don't think you're ready to come back downstairs with everyone else." He got up and sighed, heading back downstairs.

[justagirl4fun]

Judith sat in the corner, eventually throwing up on herself from crying so hard. She didn't want another spanking, though, so she just sat there covered in vomit, wondering why everyone loved Hazel so much but didn't care about her anymore.

[Shy-Diapers]

"I know. I feel bad spanking her, but she can't be fighting back, at least not until Hazel knows better." John sighed and smiled at his baby, pushing some whispy black hair from her face.

[justagirl4fun]

"I know, especially with Hazel's surgery coming up so soon. I wish they'd get along, and God bless her Judith has tried, but Hazel just isn't warming up to her. I don't know what to do about it. It really isn't fair to Judith to keep letting Hazel attack her," she admitted, "but what can we do short of keeping them separated?" she asked before turning her attention to Hazel. "It's almost ready. Can you sit in your chair now?" She tried to set Hazel in her booster seat but knew the girl could be awfully stubborn when she was in her clingy mood.

[Shy-Diapers]

"I know. I feel so bad. But it's not fair to either of them. I don't know what to do." John sighed.

[justagirl4fun]

"Okay, okay, you can sit on mommy's lap," Abbie said, giving in as she usually did. "Hon, can you dish the soup up?" she asked as she attempted to set the table one-handed. "Maybe your parents would take Judith for a while...just until Hazel recovers from surgery," she suggested weakly. She doubted he would go along with it but she couldn't come up with any better ideas.

[Shy-Diapers]

Hazel calmed down once she was sure she wouldn't be set down. She smiled and relaxed a little.

[justagirl4fun]

"I know. I just don't know what else to do! I can't even do Judith's hair in the morning, or watch her brush her teeth and wash up without Hazel pitching a fit! I thought after three months she'd calm down, especially since she gets my undivided attention every morning while Judith's at school, but she hasn't. If anything, she's getting worse. I'm afraid if I discipline her she'll get scared and not trust me, which is the last thing I want with her going for surgery next week, but I don't know how much longer this can go on. I'm surprised Judith held out this long before fighting back but for the last week or so she's been acting out in other ways. Yesterday she pooped her pants for no good reason. The day before she colored all over the table in the playroom. Another time she got into my make-up and drew all over the mirror with lipstick. It's gotten so she doesn't even want to be in the same room as Hazel but obviously I can't be in two places at once and this is the kind of stuff she does when she's unsupervised."

"Nobody likes me," Judith said sadly. "Everybody loves Hazel now, an' nobody cares about me. I wanna get 'dopted like Hazel."

[Shy-Diapers]

John frowned and rubbed his forehead. "You think Judith can hold out til the surgery? Hazel won't be doing much while she recovers, and once she's better we can maybe start disciplining her." He suggested shaking his head.

[justagirl4fun]

Abbie frowned. "I dunno. I guess she'll have to. But if she hurts Hazel again..." She trailed off, not entirely sure what she would do if Judith hurt Hazel, and started spooning soup into Hazel's mouth.

"No they don't! Daddy 'panked me. An' they don't care if Hazel is mean," Judith insisted as she followed her sister to the kitchen. She stared at the ground and shrugged when her father spoke to her. "I frew up."

[Shy-Diapers]

"I'll try and talk to her. Maybe if she knows it's just a little longer she can pull through." John said before picking Judith up. "Let's get you cleaned up." He said taking her upstairs. "You only have to put up with Hazel being mean a little longer. After her surgery she'll be laying down and not playing much until she's better. And once she's better mommy is sure she'll be ok to be punished. So after she's better if she's mean then she'll get in trouble."

Rosie climbed up to the table and started to eat.

[justagirl4fun]

"You promise? If she's mean, she'll get

[Shy-Diapers]

"Not the first time but if she continues to hit you then yes she'll be spanked." John said, hoping he'd be able to keep his word.

[justagirl4fun]

"An' will mommy start makin' normal food after Hazel's better?" Judith asked hopefully.