Sunday, December 02, 2007

Jada, A Drama in Three Acts

There's never a dull amount when Jada's around. Yesterday, we had
three instances of her "live to the hilt" MO. First, she unfurled a
spectacular tantrum at the zoo in the morning, leaving the few other
visitors agape as I tried to calmly scoop her and Aaron up and usher
them on to the next exhibit. Then, while we were all in the living
room, she was jumping from couch to couch - against both of our orders
- and bashed her face into the side of one couch, causing a bloody
nose and another set of howlings. Finally, just when we thought all
that drama had worn her out until the morning, she arose at 12 and
then 3 to protest about something being in her bedroom that wasn't
supposed to be, or vice versa, or something to that effect; Amy got
the early one and I got the later one, and we were both as disoriented
as she probably was.

Neither of us want her to lose her zest for life or the deep way in
which she cares about stuff. But we are hoping that she can temper
that in a way that she can get herself calmed down and not always so
worked up. And though we give her as much attention as we can, it's
true she's gotten less since Aaron's arrived, so maybe there's a sense
she's doing what she can to get the attention any kid would crave. So
it's a fine line between giving her room to be herself, whatever that
means; and giving her boundaries so she knows what's acceptable and
what's not. The saga continues.

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