Mee My Mo: My life as I know it, breathe it, live it and love it!

Enigma (noun) One that is puzzling, ambiguous or inexplicable. This is Scarlet. Scarlet is one of the most interesting people I know and she is merely 9 years old. If I could describe her in 3 words I would say: Strong willed, repentive and unique. I could write of this one for hours, no days, but since this is a simple blog I will sum up. She was the the youngest of the 3 children for 9 years, until little Miss Annabee came less than 3 months ago. She is only 18 months younger than her brother and 5 and a half years younger than her older sister, but she never let his or her sister's age outshine her, she just does everything big.

Scarlet has always dealt with a bit of the OC (obesessive compulsive) behavior. She has for 9 years 3 months and 3 days always had something new she decided to be obseessed about. It may be big or it could be something small that would go unnoticed for weeks. Then she has some behaviors that are just there and don't go away, such as germ phobias, mouth noises and control issues. At present she needs you to look at her when she talks (even if she is the one interrupting conversation) and then if you don't she will repeat the same sentence over and over and over until you do look at her with all your attention. Even if you say, "Scarlet, I heard you say that three times already!" She just repeats her self seemlessly as to not disrupt her own talking pattern. Here are some of the things she has done:

At 3 years old she was very much into eating parmessan sprinkle cheese and one day I came home to a horrible cheesy, smelly house. I followed the scent to the livingroom, then up the stairs and finally to Scarlet's room. I twist the handle ready to barge in and see where this smell is coming from, but the handle doesn't turn and instead I ram my shoulder into a door I thought was going to open. Having locked doors is a big no no in our house so I bang on the door..."Scarlet!!!" Then I hear a very sweet and angelic voice almost sing out, "Is that my cute little mommy?" Why yes it is. She opens the door and there lay before me a floor covered in parmessan cheese. Why? Well because she likes it. When I sat her down to get eye level with her and tell her to look at me, she turned her head and would not. When I turned her head to me to make her look at me she crunched her eyes closed. It's all on her terms. Little did I know when she was 3 how much so it would be that way.

Scarlet has always had OC issues with her clothing. From the time I can remember she can't handle tight necked shirts, panties that "squeeze her butt", pants that "squeeze her butt", shirts that "squeeze her stomache", socks or shoes that "make her hot"or really any clothing that was her actual and correct size. She for years would pull the panties up her crack and this was the only way she'd wear them, because for some reason this doesn't "squeeze her". She won't get her ears pierced because she would obsess about them. She went through a stage where she was convinced her lips were chapped so she'd peel them till they bled...daily. When we dealt with this behavior she started to pick her gums till they bled. Thank God we are done with that stage. If you have been around her for any amount of time there are trademark things you will notice about her.

1. She always has short, scraggly hair. This is because she will not let me brush it, so I threaten to cut it....she has never had long hair.

2. Her panties, which are always 2 sizes too big for her, are always spilling out the top of her pants that are also 2 sizes too big for her.

3. She is usually barefoot and has dirty feet.

4. She is either smiling really big or giving a very dirty look to someone. (no in between)

5. She is always humming or singing under her breath....songs of worship.

6. Although she has drawers and a closet full of clothes she will wear the same outfit for a month straight if I let her. Once she finds something comfortable she sticks to it.

Scarlet went through a stage where she overly obsessed about germs. It was to the point that for Wiley to enter her room he would have to first wash his hands, this began to not be enough, so then he'd have to have a full shower and then pass her "inspection". Then she began posting signs. One on the door read, "NO SMOKING". Nobody smokes in our family but neverthless it was necessary for her to draw a handmade sign with the little cigarette with a circle and slash through it. I didn't think too much of it until I was going through the house to check the bathrooms. I came to her vanity area and there it was, a very well thought out sign. It read, "Employees must wash hands before returning to work. " Then you pan down a bit further and it read, "They must also wash their hands before they start work." This is a classic scarletism, she needs obvious things to be stated. Every time we deal with an issue another one usually pops up. The other day in the car she was fussing about something, I can't remember what anymore. She said, "well it's because I am aggresive compulsive." Hmmm. Obviously she took some of the conversations we have with her and explanations and made her own category. Aggresive Compulsive.

Now you may think, why not just discipline her. I do, but I choose my battles with her and see the beauty in her strong will. I will, like a good student of Dr. Dobson, strive to "break her will without breaking her spirit." Scarlet is a leader and is an amazing person. She is the best little mommy I have ever seen. She loves the Lord with all her heart and has a very sensitive spirit. Her heart of quick repentance is a saving grace for her (ironically her middle name is Grace). One day Dhyan found a note at the bottom of the stairs. It was written in older handwriting and said, "Dad I am sorry I mimicked you today." Well Dhyan called up the stairs to Van because he thought maybe she had caught Scarlet mimicking him and was going to take matters in her own hands and make her write this apology letter. He asked and her response was that Scarlet came in and asked her to write the note from her. Dhyan calls Scarlet down and asks her, because he didn't know he was being mimicked. She shamefully squeezed out, "When you told me to go to my room yesterday I mimicked you." Then she burst into tears. The conviction was from the Holy Spirit, as nobody saw her do this. Scarlet also will leave notes all around the house for me, typed out, handwritten ones, ones with doodles, and some with stickers and they all go on about what a wonderful mother I am and her gratefulness for that. I love this girl, as perplexing as she is, she is even greater in character.