Yeah... we have one of those kids.

I have a very sweet, loving, funny, charming three, almost four year old. He's also very, ahem, "spirited". You know the kind of kids I'm talking; you might even be blessed with one of your own. They're the kids that laugh harder when happy, scream louder when upset, and cry more when sad. They're stubborn, opinionated, and intense. People call them "handfuls", "naughty", or say they must be ADHD. (Which I'm sure many spirited children do have, but the two are not mutually exclusive of one another.)

Raising a spirited child is definitely a challenge. My first clue that Lane might be different than the average child came while he was still inutero. Most of the ultrasound pictures of him are blurs of black and white, almost unidentifiable as a baby. My twenty week anatomy scan took two hours (literally) because he wouldn't stop moving, where as the average scan takes about twenty minutes. As a newborn, Lane was incredibly alert-- that was the first thing everyone commented on. He was also unpredictable; it was impossible to get him on schedule. Lane was demanding; I remember at about of a month old, he would get angry and would make his entire body go stiff as a board. He was active right from the start: he held his head up in the hospital and rolled from stomach to back at a few weeks. By five months he was crawling, and two months before his first birthday, he took his first steps. He has been running ever since (seriously, the joke in our family is that he's like Forrest Gump- "from that day on, I was running!", because Lane can't seem to walk anywhere.) His energy is limitless, and uncontainable. He has ceaseless questions and ideas. When he's sad or frustrated, he melts into a tantrum so intense, it leaves most people with their mouths agape.

Fortunately those are rare, and most of the time he is smiling. When something is funny, Lane dissolves into peels of laughter, so loud and intense, they pierce your ears. He is always at 100%, and as his mother, I am rarely allowed even a brief reprieve to drink a cup of coffee or have a phone conversation in peace. Spirited children are always "on", so their parents must be, as well.
I realize that I'm making it sound like I'm stuck raising this impossible child, but that's not the case. While spirited are utterly exhausting to raise, the rewards are countless. Lane loves with the same boundless energy that he permeates every inch of his body. His hugs and kisses are ceaseless and he freely expresses his love to anyone and everyone.

I think the spirited child, if as a child they're nurtured (as opposed to their parents trying to "break them like a horse", as we are often told to do), grows into a remarkable adult. I would be willing to bet that many of the great leaders throughout history were spirited children. The spirited child's intensity and tenaciousness lends itself well to building a strong work ethic. The spirited child becomes the adult that defies the status quo, and creates history. They are truly are remarkable creatures- I just need to continue to remind myself of that when I'm reaching the end of my rope. ;)