Random Rants of Army Kiddos

The other day Thing 2 had Strep and was prevented from doing all of the things she "just LOVED to do!!!" in a desperate attempt to get her to rest her body. Several hours after being banished to the couch, I was walking to the laundry room and noticed this on the chalk wall. 

Translation: "I don't like to be sick. Matt and Peyton get to play the Wii. I can't play on the computer. The only thing that I can do is to read Dr. Seuss books are Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Ten Apples Up On Top, and ABC"

After taking a picture, uploading it to Facebook and snickering, I sat back and thought about how proud of her I am. I'm so immensely proud of her ability to express her feelings. 

Thing 1 had a little bit of a meltdown the other day after learning we were in fact moving and not staying here. And through the tears, he told me how he's excited to move, glad Army Guy doesn't have to deploy this Fall, but how he feels bad for his friends. Evidently, he has two best friends at school but one of them is moving next week and prior to us moving this wasn't too big of a deal for Thing 1, but now that we're also moving he's worried for his one friend that is left behind. And he's stressing TCAP testing. And as he sat there spewing all of this to me, I was thinking it's sad that he has to go through all of this, but he's so strong and I'm so lucky for that.

The kiddos ability to express their feelings (positive and negative) in a constructive manner is my proudest parent moment. Their lives are always in some state of random flux (positive and negative) that they are prime candidates to have significant mental health issues. Army is just now figuring this out and how to give them more support, which I'm glad that they're figuring this all out. But, in the meanwhile, we parents of those kiddos with parents deployed and in a constant roller coaster of Army life, have been doing the best that we can. And it's nice to see that they can say "you know what this sucks today" instead of acting out at school, falling into the wrong crowd, violence, etc.

I'd love to tell you there's some brilliant method to my madness, but nope. It's just survival. It's understanding they are involved in this as much as we are, instead of thinking of them as minions. :) They get a voice, they get an opinion because they don't always get a choice.

And I have to remind myself of this as Sam-I-Am enters the "no!!!!" phase.....