Kiddos Driving Us Crazy!

October 8, 2017

Ah Acceptance.  What a fickle beast you truly are.  Seems like I pay more attention to this in October then any other time of the year, and by that I mean, I look at it from every perspective...Bradley's, Madison's, and Sydney's.  I'm always paying attention and available to help navigate the ins and outs of this insane teenage world the girls are trying to grow up in, but they're pretty good at navigating most land mines and it takes something significant to draw me in and need me to advise them.

Madison is the girl next door, the craziness that is Madison is not something that is ever debated...she is either flat out accepted for who she is or just left alone by others.  She has enough of her own self-worth that she will put a voice behind strong words of self defense should someone try to mock her or tear her down.  She may be a bit of a follower when it comes to her best friend, where she goes Madison mostly goes...but she also has a very strong sense of right and wrong and doesn't choose the shady path.  She may push the limits and boundaries of the rules but she won't run past the limits and hope for the best.  As a result, she has been offered and allowed to watch her brother more and more. In the past week, she has had a lot of time with him, and each time she does she proves to me a little more how much she has grown up.  She knows his meds and when he gets them, to the extent that while we were in the last days of prepping for Volleyball tryouts for Sydney for Club season, I called her to tell her we were headed home.  Madison said okay; and let me know that Bradley was in his pajamas and had all of his liquid medicines.  She had double checked the sheet of paper I keep by his medicines to make sure he got everything.  When I realized I hadn't adjusted one of his doses, she said okay, got a little more and went in and gave him that too.  She then let me know he had fallen asleep and wanted to put him to bed, she was so excited that she had done it all.  I was so proud of her; not that she did it all, though that is awesome, just that she was so proud of herself and so happy with herself.  Maybe she doesn't always fit in at school, but she fits in with Bradley so well and she just gets him on a level that no one else does.  When it comes to the electronics, they are neck and neck on who is more addicted and who is more connected to the hip with them - they love their movies!  After spending so much time with Bradley the last few days, with Eric and I this afternoon, we had a hard time keeping him with us so that we could play with him and she could finish her homework, he wanted to be in her room with her, the whole time.

When that didn't work out because Madison kept kicking him out, he tried Sydney.  But she was pretty tired from Volleyball non-stop the last week, so he ended up on the couch snuggling with me a bit before venturing out again to roam the house.  Despite the day, Bradley and Sydney are bosom buddies in their own ways.  He drives her crazy as much as she is crazy about him.  He wraps himself around her like a Koala Bear and giggles nonstop.  When she walks him into school or is with me for pick up, Bradley forgets that mom is tagging along because she is the greatest thing since sliced bread in his eyes.  He accepts her for the simple fact that she is here.  She can do no wrong and any fight they have he forgives her before she even realizes she has hurt his feelings or made him mad.  She will get frustrated with him for his need to clear the clutter off her desk or unfold everything she just folded, but then he realizes he has made her upset and his arms come up and he's sorry and hugging her, laying his head on her shoulder and showing remorse.  If only he would remember he is remorseful and not do it again, but there are just some things that take longer to get through to him and these are those things.  But she accepts that in him, she may not be happy about it all the time, but she accepts that it is just who he is and loves him anyway.

Bradley accepts that Madison is Madison and Sydney is Sydney.  And the girls Accept that Bradley is Bradley, the ups and downs included and they know he is who he is and that he is trying to grow up just as much as they are.  Sadly, in all this acceptance... there is an Awareness too.  An Awareness for me that my girls may not ever just Accept each other for who they are.  They are so alike it drives them crazy and yet to different they might as well live on separate planets.  It is baffling to us as their parents and for the life of me, I have no clue whether they are going to be friends someday or not.  We hope so, because we also Accept the fact that we might not always be here for Bradley and when that happens he will need both of his sisters to help him through the rest of his life.  I can only hope that they will work together to be there for him and somehow; some way, they will decide to be friends as well.  Until then... there are always fireworks in our house!  But then fireworks are fun right???  UGH!!

Signing off with Day 8.  Acceptance and Awareness...Blogging 31 for 21!  :-).