Jekyll or Hyde?

My children case me to feel like I have a split personality almost on a daily basis. How do they manage to inspire feelings of both exasperated stress and amazed pride at the same time??

Especially my middle. Stubborn as a mule. Mouthy as a blue jay when he's mad. But funny as a.... hmmm.... platypus?

It's red ribbon week at school. They are all saying no to drugs and giving the world CPR (Children Practicing Respect) in classrooms and assemblies. They are wearing red, backward clothes ("Turn Your Back on Drugs"), and TODAY was wear a goofy hat to school for "Put a Cap on Drug Use." (Never mind that I can't say it without it wanting to come out as "pop a cap in drug use, Dawg!")

Of course, we are last minute around here. It's how we roll. If we're not late, we are down to the wire with most things. So this morning Calvin sorted through whatever crazy dress up kind of hats we had. He tried everything on, sometimes piling several on top of each other to get a laugh out of all of us and settled on a knit cap that said Merry Christmas. He's a funny kid with a growing sense of ironic humor that I adore.

Tate (not really understanding irony at all), slept in and decided to start making a paper propeller hat almost immediately upon coming downstairs. Could he have possibly MENTIONED to me that he wanted to do this a tad earlier than oh, say, 45 minutes before the bus on the day OF? And, of course, he is yelling at me about every suggestion I make to alter his plans because of the time factor. Could we tape the propeller to a bucket hat? Do you even have an ACTUAL plan as to how the pieces of decorated paper will become a hat? Do you know that this will probably get torn at school and that you're going to have to be SO careful not to wreck it? What a Debbie Downer I am. Practical Polly? No-Nonsense Nelly? Professor Poopypants? This is sort of fun... sorry, where was I? Point is, I was pointing out all the reasons this wasn't going to work and why it was inconvenient for me (in the middle of a wreck of a kitchen, milk spilling out of bowls on the table, 4 boys and crazy girl crammed around into my little living room and kitchen). WHY didn't you tell me sooner that you wanted to do this? You realize you haven't really eaten and you don't have shoes on? On and on. But my Pip is, as mentioned, stubborn as a mule. The more I tried to talk him out of it, the more he dug in his heels. Angry with me for every reason I gave and more and more determined to have JUST what he imagined in his head. (A slight digression: I cannot, for the LIFE of me imagine where on earth...ahem.. he could POSSIBLY get this crazy determination to make things with no instructions and sketchy plans and expect them to turn out exactly as envisioned. (please insert exasperated, slightly embarrassed eye roll here.)

So here is where I get to the amazed and proud part. What he lacks in planning and time management skills (I don't know anyone with that problem either; I don't have a house of dirty dishes and laundry while I sit here typing away at the computer on an unnecessary (but personally fulfilling) task.... Am I convincing ANYONE here?), he makes up for in awesome creativity and an incredible lack of caring what anyone else thinks. So did I help him in the end because we (sort of ) DID have time and because I love him dearly and because **I** know how to make a sloppy paper beanie in 5 minutes with scissors and tape and staples?

Of course I did.

Anyway, I dare any of you to resist this cute little kid.

No really, I dare you. He can actually be quite frightening when he's mad. And adorable. Guess I'm not the only one around here with a split personality.