The Adult

Some people delight in rules. They love following them, enforcing them, making up new ones. Anyone who knows me but I am not one of those people.

But Caroline is.

We are intrinsically different people. Learning to parent her as she needs to be parented might be my biggest challenge in life to date.

She loves to be early to things. She has been laying out clothes for me in the morning (against my wishes) so that I will “hurry up” and get her to school earlier. I got her to school 10 minutes ahead of when she absolutely had to be there yesterday…she got so excited she shook. In her mind school is a task to accomplish, and she loves tasks.

Last night I jokingly said I was going to take flying lessons.

C1. “Oh Mama. You can’t”

Me. “Why not?

C1. “What if you crashed and got hurt?”

Me. “You could nurse me back to health”

C1. *Sigh* “But what if you died and we didn’t have a Mama?”

Me. “That’s not going to happen”

C1. “Because HOPEFULLY you won’t be flying any planes”

She’s smart and logical. Kid remembers everything, and hears everything. (So no secrets at my house!) She plans every detail ahead of time, down to what socks she is going to wear tomorrow, the next day and the rest of the week. She rarely forgets. She imparts a sense of order to everything she touches. She gets flustered when I interfere with the plans in her head.

It is handy. She is so helpful when my requests line up with her plans. She grumbles when she disagrees with doing things the way I need them done. She reasons like an adult, and her advice is always ultra logical.

She gets her homework done instantly. She is always waiting at the door to leave the house – hopeing that will help us get where we are going early.

I worry about her.

I want her to enjoy life, and not have an ulcer by the time she is 10.

So I encourage her to let loose and have fun. Swimming, playing with the dog, riding the pony anything to take her mind off planning and stressing.

Some days I succeed. Some days I don’t.

Today Claire tempted her into a mudhole in the garden…and in her all-or-nothing fashion (that much she got from me) she jumped right in.

Claire was mad I told her she had to clean off with the water hose before she came in the house.

I was happy to hear the squeals of laughter when they were throwing chunks of mud at each other. Glad they can get muddy and laugh. It’s a rite of childhood and I’m glad she isn’t bypassing it in her hurry to be an adult.

Moments like these make me think she will be alright.

I know we all worry about our kids, and hope we are doing right by them. Claire Grace will for sure be a different kind of worrying for me!

Have a good weekend friends!