they make me crazy

I was text chatting with my kid sister tonight (who I love like crazy and miss SO much).  I was telling her about some recent antics of my girls and got to listing some of their more...peculiar habits.  Or "quirks" perhaps.  and sometimes, rather obnoxious behaviors.  Which made me think about how I often write about our adventures, treasuring their sweetness and brushing over the downright maddening chaos they can cause.  Thus, "why my children make me crazy".

My oldest, my sweet little Butterfly.
--She is genuine, affectionate, caring, sincere, friendly and so brilliant.  She is also fiercely competitive and a huge drama queen.  If she doesn't win, she more often than not, will burst into tears.  It doesn't matter if it's CandyLand, or "who got their seatbelt on first".
--Her brilliance mean endless questions.  She does not accept "Because it is."  Which is good.  And exhausting.
--She's so considerate.  She watches out for others, inviting a child to play if they get left out.  But she tends to be over bearing, and can be super bossy.  Most particular, with Lovely, picking her up, smothering her, forcing her to do things.  It does not end well.
--If she doesn't get her way, she runs away and flings herself onto her bed, sobbing.  I thought I had a few more years before that level of drama.
--She's a precious, graceful little princess.  Who HATES to be dirty.
--When she's so mad that she starts to cry (which is usually), she screams in a way that make me wonder why I haven't gone gray yet.  Or deaf.  Seriously?  How can a kid have such an obnoxious cry?  It's forced and ear-piercing and so irritating.  It's her angry-and-I'll-let-you-know-it cry.  Most of the time, she's an amazing kid.  But she can throw EPIC tantrums.
--She's exceptionally talented in many ways.  But if she doesn't get it right the first time, she gets angry and stubborn and refuses to try again.
--Serious sweet tooth.  I understand, I really do.  But I tire of the begging.  and the sneaking.  or the manipulating sisters to ask when I've already told her no.

My wonderful, impish little Ladybug.
--SO stubborn.  yep, that pretty much covers it.
--She's got an incredible imagination.  I'm not an expert but compared to her peers, she seems particularly amazing.  Her pretend play is so detailed, down to consistently unlocking and locking a door to the imaginary house or cracking eggs and throwing away the eggs shells in an under-the-sink-trashcan before she can mix the cookies.  The problem is, most of us don't share her extraordinary gift for detail.  And she gets impatient (not mad but impatient) if we "mess up".  This goes hand-in-hand with her long-time tendency to be a little OCD.  She likes things a very certain way and can drive me nuts with her insistence.
--She insists on wearing her shoes on the wrong feet.  She has "flip flops" and "tapping shoes".  And adamantly corrects me if I call them sandals or tennis shoes.
--One word: "Mom....mom....mom....mom....mom....mom....mom...." WITH NOTHING TO FOLLOW.
--She won't make eye contact.  I don't think it's belligerence.  She just doesn't do it.  I can hold her chin, put my face inches away and ask her to look at my eyes.  Her eyes will nervously dart around, avoiding mine.  This makes discipline even more difficult.  We have not yet found what works best for her.  She shrugs off punishments and isn't very motivated by rewards.  She regularly gets in trouble for the same things over and over.  I can patiently explain a rule to her but it only sticks in her head about four minutes.
--When she wants affection, she wants to be touch.  She wants to cuddle on my lap (which usually I love, but sometimes find smothering).  Or Daddy gets the worst of it at the dinner table when she begs to sit next to him and then won't stop touching him.  Or I guess I should say that his shirt sleeves get the worst of it during dinner from her sticky dirty hands.
--Unlike her sisters, she doesn't mind being dirty.  And rather likes to play in the dirt.  But she is very texture sensitive (food, clothing, blankets...).
--She gets on a movie kick and will insist on watching the same movie over and over.  For weeks.  Fortunately, she has to take turns picking and her big sister likes more variety (and in fact, rarely chooses the same movie twice in a row).
--We joke that if it's quiet, she's up to something.  She's so full of energy, usually matched by volume. And she has a bad habit of sneaking off to do something she shouldn't.  Like go play outside or sneak food or draw on the walls.
--Little bit of a klutz.  Which means bumps and bruises and an endless stream of spilled drinks, food on the floor and messes everywhere.
--She refuses to take naps anymore.  If I try to make her take a nap, she will inevitably jump on the bed (despite getting in trouble for that DAILY).  So instead, she gets a "quiet time movie", will have a super cranky meltdown by 6:00, second wind and bounce off the walls until 9:00.  And then she's a bear to wake up in the morning.
--She's my packrat.  She squirrels things away, hiding them in her drawer or under her pillow.  Generally I let her do this, thinking she's trying to define "her space" or something.  But yeah, the mess drives me a little crazy.

And my perfect, precious, precocious, adorable Lovely.
--It's like she knows that she's the baby and will get away with anything.  I can tell her no and she will stare right back at me, slowly trying again, apparently testing me.
--As the baby, I'm pretty sure she believes she's entitled to anything she can steal from her sisters.  And she won't share back.
--Again, the crazy sweet tooth.  She would live on fruit snacks and marshmallows.  And unfortunately, refuses/is too young to negotiate "a bite of this for a bite of that".
--Best sleeper ever.  Still naps every day and sleeps 10-11 hours at night.  As long as she has her stuffed animals (one under each arm) and blankets piled up the way she likes them.  (the other girls became "stinkbug" sleepers as soon as they could roll over.  But Lovely still sleeps soundly on her back.) And most nights, she still has her binky.  (We are slowly weaning her.  She only has it a night now and is sometimes going 2-3 nights without it at all.)  She's also still on a bottle (at 20 months old).  My other girls had given them up long ago but Lovely won't use a sippy.  She will sample from one at dinner but won't drink enough to get the hydration/nourishment she needs.  But until she's 2, I'm not going to worry.

--Pretty little princess = hates to be dirty.  Thus, frantic fits and begging me to clean her hands to a chorus of "ew! ew! ew!"
--Being stern with her, especially a resounding "no" means that her face will scrunch up, heart positively broken and she will burst into desperate, hopeless sobs.
--Not so gentle with the cats.  She loves them but gets so excited that petting quickly turns to pounding.


Eh, Who am I kidding.  My kids are amazing.  They are wonderful and fun and mischievous and talented and so smart and sweet and adorable.  I'm crazy about them.

..and crazy because of them.

...but mostly just crazy about them.