Parenting Teenager, Seeking Sanity

My youngest daughter got up this morning in a great mood. She’s always in a great mood when she gets up. I’m used to it by now, but always amazed because she gets up soooo early.

Anyway, I got on her about putting her hair pins in a box or bag instead of leaving them loose on the counter, where they regularly migrate to the floor, sink, drain, etc. I’ve been telling her to do this for a couple of weeks now, most recently last night, at which point she got up and went into the bathroom. I don’t think I was out of line in assuming that she went in there to put the pins in a bag. I was, however, mistaken, because this morning they were still all over the counter.

So I said, standing over her in the bathroom, with great drama, “Put your hair things in a bag!”
I got the look, and a highly indignant “I’m doing that right now!” as she grabbed a bag and started stuffing things into it. The shoulders turned away from me, the jaw clenched, the feet stomped. Silence deafening. Clearly I was so very out of line in telling her to do something she was obviously just about to do!

She stomped and huffed for a while, until she forgot to stomp any more.

Later this morning I went to the book store and bought a book she needs for class. She needed it today, or she would lose points for not bringing it. I ordinarily don’t run materials to school, but it was my fault she didn’t have the book, because she told me last Thursday she needed it for today and I promised I would get it.

I didn’t. I’m a forgetful mom sometimes.

Anyway, this morning when she asked for it I told her she would just have to say it was at home. She stuck her lip out a little bit, and said she would lose points anyway, but she didn’t even really get all that upset.

But I felt bad. She did what she was supposed to do. I was the one who needed points taken off.
So I went and got the book and delivered it to school in time for her English class. She threw herself at me with delight and told me “thank you thank you thank you” in that high pitched squealy voice she uses to denote extreme excitement and/or gratitude.

I need to point out that this is not my bipolar child. This is normal child bouncing wildly. How we tell the difference between normal and bipolar often escapes me. This is me, parenting teenager. They do grow up, don't they?