Basking

So, my son. My son is awesome. He's a super sweet kid with a heart of platinum and is just an amazing kind of person. I don't know what we did right, but that kid is making us look good right about now.

I'm not saying he's always been that way - no, there were times (many, in fact) when my husband and I would just as soon have thrown him out the window as hugged him. (Granted, our windows are three feet off the ground, but still.)

In truth, many of those times were my overreactions to behavior that, let's face it, was perfectly normal for a preschooler. I was depressed, after all, and life was hard to deal with. Add in an extremely stubborn and strong-willed, bright young boy who delighted in pushing buttons and it was a recipe for some screaming and throwing of things. And that wasn't all him.

However, since I got treated and, in part, since he started kindergarten, all of the difficult behaviors and dragging feet and fighting back have completely disappeared. Somehow, my son turned into the angel I always knew was under there, and he shows it to us every single day. When I wake up in the morning, I find that my children are sitting at the kitchen table, with a complete breakfast in front of them - cereal, fruit, glass of milk - and neither my husband nor I fixed it for them. When my daughter wakes up, he immediately runs to her, helps her onto the potty and helps her wipe her butt (now that's love). He is an amazing teacher and problem solver. When my kids get into the (very rare) argument, it's usually because his little sister took something or is sitting in his spot. He'll tell me what she did, I'll tell him to work with her to solve the problem, and almost without fail they work together to fix it.

I mentioned to a friend yesterday that I got the kids that I needed to be the best parent I could be. Yes, I'm lucky - very lucky to have the kids I have, even moreso to have kids who are so helpful, well-behaved and kind and compassionate to each other. I'd like to take credit for it, and in some ways I have definitely encouraged certain behaviors, but after all that my son went through when I was unmedicated, I'm lucky. And he's lucky that I can now be a better mom to him and his sister.

This fall has been my healing season. My son has helped me heal. I look at him and see the kind of person I hope to be. Now - if I could just keep him from eating me out of house and home. :-)