Introducing....Pom.

My oldest daughter is a bit of an .... interesting child. She has been a challenge and a joy from conception. With her I was on bed rest. She was challenging to birth. She was mildly colicky from day one, and didn't sleep at all. She was diagnosed with a sleep disorder at 4 months, never potty trained, diagnosed with ODD at 4 years, a tethered spinal cord that she had surgery for at 6 years and Celiac disease at 8. At 9 years of age, she now self catheters , gets migraines at the very mention of gluten and is mouthy and obstinate to the point of ridiculous.

With all this though comes the joy. She is bubbly and outgoing. She knows who she is and has zero fear. She is helpful (when she wants to be) and focused. She was lifting her head off my shoulder at two days old and speaking in sentences by 10 months. If I need help with something, this is the child I go to. If I need to laugh though, it's Diva all the way. Pom is much more serious. She is a cheerleader and not at all afraid of the spotlight.

Where Diva was my shadow for much of her life, Pom has been pushing me away for much of hers. Don't get me wrong, she swears she can't sleep if I don't sing her our song. She wants to cuddle and loves attention. But she does her own thing. She wants to shave her legs and has been talking about moving out since she was four. FOUR!

I am proud of her for this, but I admire the man who will put up with her and not hold her back. AMBITIOUS is an understatement for her and she has already made it clear that she doesn't need a husband. "When I get married, Mommy, he'll live with me only because I want him to. I don't need a man for anything." Apparently I have unintentionally created the same monster that my Momma created. Like Mother, Like Daughter.