Keiks!

One of the constant struggles we have always had with Keilie was getting her assignments turned in completed and on-time.  Some times she would have them completely done, yet not turn them in for whatever reason.  Most times, however, she would tell us she didn't have homework, that she left it in her locker, that there was testing, that there was a sub, etc. and then have a missing assignment.  It has been a huge struggle for as long as she has been in school.

 I kind of wish we didn't know how high her IQ was.  In this way, it makes it a little more maddening to me that she gets such poor grades because of her missing assignments.  I want to take her by the shoulders, and while shaking sense into her, yell, "Of everyone in this family, you have the most intellect (that we know of) to succeed!!"

I'm not sure what the turning point was, since we have done the exact same thing since second grade as punishment or reward, but she has not had a missing assignment in over a month.  Her grades have improved substantially, as has her mood and the mood of the house.  As I watch her flourish in a world that I know she has the ability to conquer, I can't help but think, "See, Keilie, you can do this!  I knew you had it in you.  Keep up this same routine and hard work and you will accomplish anything that you can imagine!"

She has a final grade assignment that will count for a lot of her World History final grade.  She has been working on it for a couple week, using some of the materials that we get with each shipment of Caden's refrigerated TPN.  Last night, as she was feverishly painting the last of the base, I could finally see the project as she sees it in her head.  She is making a four-tiered Japanese rice field.  Pictures when she finishes, if she says I can.  When she described it to me in great detail before she began, it went way over my head.

"Mom, trust me, it's going to be great if I can do it like I see in my head."

It's not even done yet, and I am extremely impressed.  Truly, she has an eye for design.  My girl is growing into quite the young woman.  She may keep her room looking like a tornado ran through it, but it's mostly from pulling out all the stops to make her projects into how she sees them in her mind.  Her beautiful, fast-working, amazing mind.  My girl is flourishing in a world that she has never been ahead in, a world that is so important for the rest of her life.  She is getting a taste of how it feels to succeed.  I know that if she can keep it up, caring as much about it later as she does now, she will continue to do as she did when she stood in front of 300+ people in Sacrament meeting to give her talk at barely 12 years old-- astonish us all.

I love having a teenage daughter.  It may get old real fast, her sassy little 'Brattitude' (as Caden calls it), but I can't help being struck with deja vu.  She is just.like.me.  I get her.  I understand why she is lashing out sometimes, stretching her legs in this new world she is living and learning in.  I can see a change in her.  And I love it.  Every bit.  I love seeing her grow, I love seeing her learn, I love being with her.  I love being her mom.  She is my Keiks!