A big 8th grader

Today was the first day of school for my oldest child. Where we live, in middle school, the 6th graders start on Wednesday and then have Thursday off. The 7th & 8th graders go Thursday but had Wednesday off. So today was Kylie's first day.

She woke up before I did and was eating breakfast by the time I stumbled from my bedroom to shower and wake her up. She ate a massive bowl of oatmeal then went and changed into her clothes for school, did her hair and since she had prepped her backpack the day before was essentially ready before I had even gotten dressed.

I know off hand that looking at that picture you might be thinking a variety of things including "Look at that hair" and "Is she really wearing all black?". To the casual observer I understand and can totally see where you're coming from.

But.

I would describe life with Kylie since January of this year as nightmarish. The period between April and July being the roughest. The work that has gone into what you see today is nothing short of miraculous honestly. Micah and I, along with our families and friends for support have worked tirelessly with her in therapy, home life, school life and social life. We have taken off work more hours than I care to think about and our loved ones (friends AND family) have been too generous helping us with therapy appointments, hospital pick ups etc.

So, as a mother, I look at Kylie in that picture and see all the hard work and progress we've made.

She's clean. She showered and washed her hair the night before. She also brushed it and applied "shine gel" to it. There is a bow in her hair, in case you're wondering.

Her clothing is all washed and clean, she's wearing all necessary undergarments. She's not wearing makeup.

She's smiling. Her braces are almost done and she should be able to take them off by Christmas if she continues with her rubber bands as she should be.

Her ipod that she's listening to contains music from multiple genre's. I happen to know she's listening to 80's rock right at that moment. You'll have to take my word for it that she was jamming out to "Every Rose has it's thorn".

She chose to leave her cell phone at home today. She knows it would be a distraction at school and doesn't want to lose it. So she voluntarily thought about it and left it at home. This is huge. She loves that phone. For the last month or so it's been her salvation from living in the fantasy world that she has a tendency to go to. She hasn't abused the privilege *much* and has been responsible with her phone calls. For her to know the temptation to use it would be too much is a level of awareness I had once only dreamed of.

I know not everything is fixed. She still talks back sometimes. We occasionally have to remind her about her chores. I still fear her bedroom and what might lurk in it. But overall the leaps and bounds we have made so far make me eternally hopefully for this upcoming year.