Motherhood - Part 2

Okay, the pressure is officially on. I've told the world about kid #1, and now everyone must know - did kid #2 turn out to be just as... special?

Well, you be the judge. My darling baby girl, Katie, is as special to me as any child could be to her mother.

From the time she was born, her gorgeous gigantic blue eyes drove her older sister crazy, and a good solid smack in the head from Zabby to Katie when she was about 2 months old set the tone that would drive their relationship for the next 17 years. Now, before you put those horns and pitchfork on your mental image of Zabby, keep in mind that despite her angelic looks, Katie was always just about one drop more naughty than nice. :) But we had to love her anyway.

When she was very, very young, she let us know just how stubborn she would be. She started walking much too early, just like her older sister. But one day, at her Nana and Papa's house, she took a face-plant style tumble into the sunken living room, and then and there decided that she would NOT be walking upright again. In fact, it took an enormous amount of coaxing, begging and pleading to get her to get up on her feet again, and she didn't do it until she was almost 16 months old! Of course, the crawling bit didn't slow her down any. In fact, she "crawled" on her tiptoes and hands, no knees involved, and scurried through the house like a chunky little monkey!

About that same time, my mom enrolled her in the local church's daycare program. A few days later, I went to pick her up, and discovered that my little "Sarah Katherine" had changed her name. When I told them I was Sarah's mom, they had no idea who I was talking about. It wasn't until SHE saw me, and marched over and said, "The name's K-T!" that we figured it out!

When she got a little older, she was a bit of a challenge. She had a learning disability which complicated her efforts to learn to read, and she had one of the worst cases of test-anxiety you can imagine. In fact, the year she was in 3rd grade, the state decided that all 4th graders who didn't pass the FCAT would be retained. Fortunately, she wasn't in 4th grade, because she threw up all over the test. When she moved up to 4th grade, they changed the rule again, and said all 3rd graders who didn't pass would be retained. Somehow she dodged the bullet again. But in typical determined Katie fashion, she informed me that the summer after 4th grade she WOULD conquer her reading problem. So she and I read just about 8 hours a day that summer, and by the end of the summer, she was reading on an 11th grade level. Over the next 4 years, she won the reading award every year at her school.

Last January, after deciding that the pace of normal high school was a little too slow for her (not to mention full of too many distractions!), Katie decided to give military school a try, and in June she graduated a year early, from the Florida Youth Challenge Academy. I am really proud of her. I'm even more proud about her decision to volunteer in the Summer School program for struggling 3rd graders at my elementary school. And I'm really looking forward to seeing what new mountains she's going to climb.

So, yes, Katie is unique and special, and smart and funny, and darn cute to boot! And her mama is mighty, mighty proud!