Curmudgeon

Mr 17 has taken to mostly not speaking to us the last few weeks. Yes, he still eats dinner with us regularly, he speaks and answers questions if spoken to. Although usually it's in a grunt or such a state of voice that I can't understand him and must ask him to repeat himself, which he hates. But he rarely initiates a conversation. Granted last week was swamped with homecoming activities and doctor's appointments and homework that was just a little too far behind, but I feel left out of his life. I know that very soon he will be leaving, and that the grumpiness and the negativity are God's way of preparing me for him not to be here, but still, it's not a lot of fun. I'm hoping it is more of a stage than anything. But, Mr 17 has never been much of a talker, so I am doubting that.

Miss 14 on the other hand lets me have hope in the future. She loves to tell me the latest gossip from school, although it is often embellished, because as I may have previously mentioned Miss 14 is also known here as Miss Exaggeration. Sometimes it is hard to know exactly how sick she is, or how fast her heart was racing, or how awful her teacher really was, or how hard swim practice was because everything for her is multiplied by 1,000 for effect. Still, I love that she talks to me, and even love when she harasses me just because she hasn't had enough physical contact recently. Last night she was completely into messing with my hair every time we were in the same room, and I'm convinced it was because what she really wanted was me to grab her hand and wrestle with her. I happily obliged for a bit.

So, phase or not, I have 2 extremes for my oldest 2. Mr 17 says I am boring and have nothing to talk about anyway, so what do we need to visit for? And at times I can't get Miss 14 to stop talking or asking questions. Maybe I'm the one with a split personality?