The behavioral roller coaster

Good morning! It was another day around the Dungan household. I am pleased to announce that, for a change, Sydney did not present with an ailment yesterday - no headaches, no stomach pain, and no leg pain. I must admit that it was a relief and I am hopeful that the trend continues. The rest of the gaggle is good. Well, I should say all but Ainsley. Ainsley is not sick. She is not feeling under the weather. Ainsley's problem is violence. I am beginning to think that it is just an age thing. I remember Graham going through this very clearly. He would hit anything that made him mad - even some of the things that didn't. I seem to recall that he went through this episode when he was between 3 and 4 years old. I am happy to say that he snapped right out of it. And, look at him now. He is now the picture of sweetness and consideration. Sydney went through this too. Frankly, though, I always assumed she had the right to. Anyone enduring the things she endured certainly had the right to release some pent up anger. She, however, had it at an older age. The good news is that, for her as well, the year of the mad monkey quickly passed. She, too, is now the picture of sweetness and consideration.

Ainsley, however, is not. She is more like the picture of bitterness and violence. She is just as likely to hug her brother and sister as she is to smack them up the side of the head. She is also going through a period of defiance which I seem to also recall from the other two. (Yes, even at my tender age of 37 much of what the children do that I do not write down leaks out of my brain and into oblivion.) The good news is that they all seem to recover. The always return to the normal loving twerps that we have worked so hard to cultivate.

Ainsley, though, is trying out patience. I am beginning to wonder if that pattern will hold. She has always been the sneaky one and the one I most worry about as she grows up. She will be my partier. I am already losing sleep just at the thoughts of what I can imagine that she will do. The good thing that she has going for her right now is her cuteness. In fact, that may be the lone reason that she hasn't been traded in on a friendlier model. Thankfully, this, we know will soon pass.

Wow, I feel sorry for her future boyfriends.

They will need purpose.