The Best of Both Poles

I'm so impressed with my boy! Yes, I'm talking about the same boy who gave me the card with the broccoli up the boy's nose. You all know that Josh has the diagnosis of bipolar disorder. I'm going to talk about how bipolar he is, but not in the way you think.

Josh could easily BE the boy on the Mother's Day card. This is the boy who started making weird sounds and noises as a baby and hasn't stopped since. He can do impressions almost as well as Rick can. Some of his favorites are Sheldon from "The Big Bang Theory" and just about all of the characters on "Family Guy" (how can I say he can't watch this rude show when Rick cracks up with laughter), although Lauren can do a mean "Lois". He was an accomplished farter, the kind you make with your hand cupped under your armpit. But wait, that's not all. He could do it not just in his armpit but by cupping his hands behind his knees and also make "the sound" with his hands cupped over his ears. I say he was accomplished, not because he can't anymore but because "that's juvenile" as he would say.

This is the kid who made the clothing list on his school's recent 8th grade trip. Actually, they're in San Antonio right now. When the director of the middle school, Mrs. LeBlanc, made the list of clothes to pack she suggested an extra pair of underwear because Josh would be making them laugh! She's known Josh since the beginning of 6th grade and has had many Josh Rainey moments in the past 3 years.

This is the kid who when he was about 4, and sitting next to us in the sanctuary of the church during the sermon, asked me if God has, ummmm, male genitalia (or the "p" word). That's one of those moments where you say "We'll talk about this in the car, LATER".

People who know him will just walk up to me and start laughing. I'm thinking "Oh my, what's he done now!" Whether it's his teacher at school, his best friend's mom or our youth director at church, they always have some kind of hilarious Josh story to tell me, while I shake my head in slight embarrassment and quiet awe at the same time. Sometimes I just want to find the off switch!

This is the kid that Josh thinks the world wants to see. He gets himself into trouble now and then because, as he puts it "Mom, I was just trying to make them laugh!" He's made us laugh hundreds of times and will continue to do so in the future, I'm sure. I know I can relate to how Jim Carrey's or Robin Williams' moms must have felt.

The other side of him, the 'polar' opposite, is so sensitive, kind, thoughtful and very introspective. Did you know that Josh is great with little kids? Two of our best friends since college, Cindy and Andy, have 2 children. Trevor and Victoria LOVE Josh. The moon rises and falls with Josh, and the cool thing is that Josh thinks they are special too. Lauren loves the Davies kids, but she loves them like a 16 year old girl who's in to makeup, I-Tunes, her friends and boys, would. Josh will spend an entire evening playing chase, encouraging Trevor as he rides his bike in our cul-de-sac, or just simply let Trevor copy every move he makes. It's adorable. So are those Davies kids!

Josh is the kind of young man who notices the homeless people on the streets of Houston. We pick up bags of non-perishable food from our church and carry them in our car. Josh can spot a homeless person a mile away. He's made me turn around, go the opposite direction, just so he can reach the guy on the opposite side of the freeway and give him some food. He tried to get his school to make the bags of food there at the school and then, as a community project, all of the kids could take them in their cars and pass them out. He was incensed when they decided to have a bake sale instead.

Josh is the kind of kid who values his friendship with his best friend, Major, so much that it doesn't matter who's around when he shows how much he cares with a hug or a kind word.

Many of you have asked where Josh is going to school next year. We narrowed it down to Rosehill Christian School, on the other side of Tomball, and The Woods High School, about 4 blocks from Monarch, where Lauren is. This decision was a BIG one for our family, because if we chose Woods High School then we would have probably moved to that part of town.

About a month ago, Josh had a day off school so we decided to make that our day to visit both schools. I'd been to both schools before, but really wanted Josh's and Rick's input. We saw Woods HS first and I thought Josh would have been enthralled with the place. The kids dress like him (slightly emo looking), have Anime-style drawings on their lockers (that's his favorite style of drawing), etc. It just had this creative, free-thinking, Montessori style, lap top for each kid vibe to it. Rosehill is a lovely, warm, traditional Christian school, where the kids wear uniforms and have chapel. It has that Rydell High (you know, from "Grease") kind of feel.

So, after our tour, Rick and I sat down with Josh and asked him his opinion on each school. We wanted to know his pros and cons for each one. We were shocked and impressed to hear how much thought Josh put in to his answers and what maturity and insight he had. Believe it or not, Josh chose Rosehill over Woods, for reasons we would never have thought mattered to him. We had already been leaning toward Rosehill and so we're now in the stages of getting in all of our paperwork and hoping that Josh will be attending the school in the fall. It's a great school, with a wonderful program that we feel will meet his special needs and the people are just so loving and vested in making the students feel valued. My kind of school!

Well, that's my boy! He'll tell anyone "I'm a mama's boy" and be proud of it. I've never been so thrilled to have this kind of bipolar child in my life. I'm a lucky mom.