Admittedly, Araceli's way is more creative and passionate than everyone else's, and she's also organized, independent and responsible. But even Araceli will cop to the fact that she sometimes leaps in with two feet before she knows what she's leaping into. And she sheepishly admits that she is "probably too confident." That sounds like one of those job interview questions, right? "What is your greatest weakness?" "I care too much about my job."
Too much confidence can be a problem, although nothing Araceli can't fix with some ingenuity. One area of overconfidence lately has been her grades. They were so bad, Scott and I took her phone away and grounded her for life. Then her grades went down. Down to the basement. As in, "Don't worry about that F, Mom..." Only when I started having daily discussions with Araceli about her grades and helping her email her teachers when she had questions, did her grades start improving.
Araceli is such a creature of light that she doesn't respond to anything but love. She was like that even as a baby. She always got out of bed, time after time, and if anyone got mad at her for getting up, the battle was lost. Only when she was completely reassured that we loved her and that we would continue to love her while she was asleep, would she give in.
Of course, she also has her dark side, and the last thing you want to do is wake it up through anger and negativity, and let it start running the show. You know, if kids didn't come with these full-grown personalities all built in, they would be a lot easier to manage. I wouldn't want to lose one bit of Araceli's spirit, though. She is exceptional, and we're just lucky and blessed that she's ours.
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