The Tornado and The Old Lady

Children born into their biological families of course have their own personalities.  Even twins often  vary personality wise to quite a degree.  Not being an experienced mom with a baseball team of my own, I often ponder the nature vs. nurture question when met with the polar opposites that are my children.  Mixing in those four capitalized letters of A-D-H-D plays with the chemistry of the beast as well.

The Tornado (Sonny Boy) hits the floor every morning leaving a wake of mess and destruction behind.  It's go, go, go, go, go until we chase him into bed, he's forced to be horizontal and still for 45 seconds and he passes out from exhaustion.  Like a  real tornado, my Tornado often moves through life without forethought or malice but often leaves hurts, and tears behind him.  A tornado is a complex weather pattern that is difficult to predict and hasn't really been figured out yet by scientist.  My Tornado is a complex kid, brilliantly smart and funny one minute and yet prone to take wild detour into crazyland at a moments notice.  It's difficult living with a Tornado in the house.  I am in awe of it's unbelievable power, it's unique beauty, and zest for life.  On the flip side I fear it's destructive power to tear my material possessions apart, and sometimes my sanity.  My biggest fear for the Tornado is that they often tear themselves apart with self destructive behavior.

The Old Lady (Igor) is just that. Really, it's such a good description in two words I have a hard time expanding the metaphor.  Igor worries and frets about things to come.  He MUST have a plan for the day and it is unwise to vary that plan or the Old Lady get's crotchety.  The Old Lady likes things neat and will often tidy things without being told to, though often has messes of his own about that don't bother him at all.  The Old Lady likes to be helpful and is often underfoot offering to help and voicing his opinion about the project at hand.  Like an old lady, Igor often forgets himself from time to time and acts like a kid (thank goodness).  Hubby and I often joke that if ever there was a personality perfect for military service it would be Igor, as he would thrive in a regimented environment - too bad his health issues will exclude him from taking that route.  My biggest worry for The Old Lady is that he will become such a stick in the mud he will forget to have fun in life and not sweat the small stuff.

Igor's first pack meeting as an official Cub Scout 

 

 

For all of the boy's differences they balance each other well.  Two Tornados or two Old Ladies would be way more than I could ever handle.  I guess it proves the fact that God never gives you more than you can handle - though certainly He makes your load difficult at times.