Any parent of multiple kidlets can tell you that some kidlets are easier to raise than others. It might be a personality thing, a lack of health issues, birth order, or any of a zillion other reasons why one person is more or less of a challenge than others. I believe wholeheartedly that Rooster, my beautiful and energetic little lady, was put on this Earth strictly to challenge me to become a better, more knowledgeable parent.
Three years passed between my giving birth to Horse and when Rooster entered this world. I had no idea just how spoiled Horse made me until Rooster hollered for the very first time. Even as a newborn, Rooster could outscream any of the other babies in the nursery at the hospital. She had no problem stating that SOMETHING was not making her happy, and she wanted that fixed immediately!
Rooster has always tried to expand my medical knowledge. From her first dirty diaper in the hospital, I knew something wasn't right. It took about two months of my arguing with her pediatrician before the doctor finally conceded that I had a point. Babies can be allergic to breastmilk? Really? Yup, and she was. Babies can be allergic to pretty much every formula out there? Yes. Babies can reject a formula even when starving because it makes them feel ill? Why, yes, they can. We finally figured out when she felt okay with a particular formula because she downed over eight ounces at her first feeding, at two months of age, and still wanted more. The poor kidlet had not ever felt full before that because everything just flew through her digestive tract. No wonder she was up four or five times every night! It's not normal for a baby to spit-up twenty times a day? Nope, apparently not. Little girls can have estrogen imbalances that cause problems? Who knew? Rooster single-handedly taught me it is okay to question and even argue with multiple members of a medical staff if something does not seem right. Doctors are not omniscient, and Mommy really does know her baby better than they do. I learned to fight to have my concerns heard properly.
Rooster always marched to her own drummer. She had no qualms about trying to do something that no sane individual would attempt, such as giving herself a swirly once she discovered how to flush our toilet. I quickly learned to never, ever leave her alone lest I find her (quite literally) climbing the walls somewhere. She has no inherent sense of danger or risk, and throws herself wholeheartedly into whatever cockamamie plan she has imagined. She taught me that furniture must be bolted to the walls, that finding a toddler dangling from a shelf high on the wall will not actually give me a heart attack despite how I feel at that time, that a child who looks guilty as sin can indeed be innocent of any wrongdoing (and vice versa), and that kidlets can sense when a very pregnant Mommy has been told to not pick up a screaming toddler when said toddler has thrown herself on the ground. (True story: I had a miscarriage in-between Rooster's and Pig Jr.'s births, so I had been told not to pick up a one-and-a-half year old Rooster while pregnant with Pig Jr. The days I would take Horse to preschool would invariably wind up with Rooster throwing herself on the ground and refusing to get up while I stood there worrying that if I picked her tantrum-ing self up off the ground, I would be endangering her in utero brother. Fun times.)
I used to claim she was the poster child for Ritalin until I learned about the similarities between Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) and ADHD. This was incredibly beneficial information, since we could try a bunch of the tricks we were learning on how to deal with her brother, who also has sensory issues. Amazingly, her four-hour long meltdowns became obsolete once we tried swaddling her. Who on earth swaddles a four- or five-year old? We did, and it worked to calm her down.
One of the most important things Rooster taught me, however, has nothing to do with behavioral, health, or other physical issues, despite how many things I had to learn in those areas. I learned that adding a second child to our household only expanded the amount of love and joy we have to share. Rooster might know how to push every single button I have, particularly when doing homework, but she is the most loving, caring, enthusiastic, energetic, and overall happy child I have ever met. She wears her emotions on her face, and she just glows radiantly when she is thrilled. She is almost always talking about how she likes or loves different people, and she knows quite a few! Walking to or from school has her calling out her friends' names, waving, smiling, and putting some pep in her step. She truly seems to love life, and those times when she doesn't, she's not afraid to let you know!
Rooster, my amazing kidlet, I hope you have a very happy birthday today. You are such a special kidlet. You definitely keep me on my toes, but you are well worth the energy I must expend to keep up with you! Keep being the absolutely amazing you that you are. I wouldn't mind if you let me take a nap every once in a while though! I love you, my wonderful seven-year-old.
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