At the core

We are in the beginning stages of tweendum in our house.  This means the princess is voicing her opinions more, pushing the envelope a little more, and starting to have those unpredictable mood swings.  And there are times when we wonder where the little girl has gone.  But, the cool thing is, even in the midst of these beginning signs of teenage fun, this week I was reminded that at the core she is still the same.

We had a strange week around here because Doug was gone all day with the princess on on a field trip and then she came down with strep and was out of school for 3 days.  In any given week I have an average of 4 doctor/therapy appointments to remember so I live by my calendar.  But, when things like sickness get thrown in I toss the calendar out.  On Friday, it was Doug who remembered that Little Man needed to be in speech 7 minutes before we were supposed to be there.  I honestly had completely forgotten it was even Friday.

We went into frantic mode to get there.  Doug was walking out the door to go to work, Little Man was enjoying his naked time (doesn't everybody!), and the princess was still recovering from days of high fevers. Needless to say Little Man was very confused and completely unable to transition that fast so he was extremely upset.  We jumped in the car (we only live 5 minutes from therapy) and took off.  As I'm backing out of the driveway I can hear the princess in her most soothing voice drawing pictures for Little Man and asking him to count what she has drawn.  It was amazing to listen to.  She's not just a bystander in the house, she has watched and she has learned how to help her brother.  And even though she was totally being yanked from the Lazy Boy she had been glued to for 3 days, she was able to look past herself and see someone else's need.  We managed to arrive at speech with a much calmer boy because she could do so.  It was encouraging to this mama that even though we have some long days now, deep down that beautiful heart is still there.