Oscar

I affectionately refer to Adrienne as Oscar, as in Oscar the Grouch, because she's got the be the most grumpy human being I've ever been around. I love her and she lights up my life but for some reason, this is the way she's wired. I find myself asking John if this is just an age related phase for her or if she's going to be a grump for the next 16 years. It's exhausting to even think about her teenage years at this rate! Lol

It's kind of hard to handle such a grump when you're trying to remain upbeat and happy for the family's sake. The other morning Adrienne woke up, came downstairs, looked at Brooke and rudely said, "You're not going to school. " She was mean about it, too. It wasn't like she was joking! She didn't say "Good morning" or anything else... She just automatically started her day with negativity.This is one incident out of about a million that we go through each day and it's hard to not let it wear on me.

I was kind of hitting my head against a wall each day... Sick of feeling defeated by a 23-pound child. Frustrated that she was controlling my mood. Despite endless efforts and spilling out my heart and soul into that child, I started wondering if I wasn't doing such a good job of loving her or making her feel secure in who she is to our family. I then realized that those are lies from Satan who wants me to feel defeated and inadequate as a mother, but I'm not allowing those feelings to get through my brain anymore!

Instead of arguing or getting frustrated with Adrienne, I've started a funny new game with her... Whenever she's in one of her moods I pick her up, squeeze her super tight and joke with her that I won't let her go until she smiles and gives me a kiss. This almost always results in her laughing hysterically and snapping out of her mood. If she's getting grumpy or being mean I say, "Am I going to have to squeeze you super tight and not let you go?" She laughs and for a moment, at least, the world is at peace.

I'm not trying to make it seem like I'm unhappy or like I don't enjoy my daughter. Trust me, there are many wonderful sides to her that make all of these hard times and mood swings worth while. She's witty and silly and she is the type of kid who will just come up and say, "Give me a pish!" ("Kiss" in Adrienne-ese!) I see a lot of myself in her, too.. She kind of marches to her own beat and doesn't much appreciate being told what to do. My goal is to direct those attributes into something positive as opposed to the rebellious side of that spectrum. I smile when I think of her future and who she will become because I know she will have the drive to do about anything she wants to do. Lord, just grant me an extra measure of patience in the mean time!