Maud is something special

So, as with most teenagers, Maud and I have definitely had our conflicts.  I mean she is 13 (14 in a month) and there is a requirement that you are not allowed to get along with your Mom at that age. That and Maud is remarkably like me in personality which pisses her off to no end and really causes some friction between us.  That has been going on for two years, since she started maturing, which is not that surprising since hormones appear to me to be some deadly mix of psychosis, bitchiness and irrationality.  I think I have been getting everything I deserve considering the way I treated my Mom at that age.  To be fair, my Mom did wish that I would have a child just like me so that what goes around comes around. And she did get her wish!

Well, not so this is a complaint, Maud has really been coming out the other side recently.  She has been much friendlier and more pleasant and I think she has occassionally, gasp!, been enjoying my company again. I am really impressed with how much she has matured recently.  On that note, back in the fall she asked me if she could move up a grade at her school.  She is in 8th grade but has been in 10th grade Japanese and 9th grade algebra.  But she hasn’t been feeling challenged in her other classes and has wanted to just move up to all high school classes.

I told her at the beginning of the year that I felt there was a maturity issue with her and if she wanted to move up then she had to demonstrate the initiative and maturity to approach the school herself.  She was really upset about that which is exactly why I didn’t want her moving up.  But low and behold last week I got a call from the director of the middle school that Maud has approached her and they felt it was a good idea.  Good for you, Maud! 

So now Maud is taking a mix of 9th and 10th grade classes and she did it all on her own.  She reached out and made her argument and got the result she wanted and I could not be more proud of that child.  She is still going to do the full 4 years of high school so she won’t actually be graduating early but she will probably take some college courses her last two years.

I have to say it is just really cool to see your children turn into adults and accomplish really amazing things.  I am starting to see Leo do the same.  We all like the same movies now and get to spend adult time together.  And I really like my kids.  I mean I want to spend time with them and hang out with them as peers.  Which is just really freaking cool.  Go Dukes!