"I've turned my life around."

I'm not sure how a six and a half-year old decides it's time to turn her life around. What I do know is that I'm glad she did.

Skye has always been our difficult child. There is no doubt that she's brilliant and has the face of an angel, but she battles a temper that mirrors the one that inspired Shakespeare to write the Taming of the Shrew. I often joke (halfheartedly) that if Skye had been our first, she would have been our only. The radical mood swings and erratic behavior she's struggled with for years recently caused us to march straight into a therapist's office because we had run out of tools in our parenting bag of tricks.

Although it helped give us a more rigorous framework to work in, that too has run its course. The therapist suggested pulling in the school's Child Study Team to help intervene and reinforce what we were doing at home. So, we pulled in her teacher, the guidance counselor and school psychologist. As Hillary Clinton wrote years ago, it truly does takes a village and we have rallied the troops to help us help our daughter. The past two weeks have been remarkable. Don't get me wrong; there have been typical confrontations such as refereeing disputes with her older brother and explaining why she can't have chocolate for breakfast. But, the atypical behavior that drove us to rally the troops hasn't been here.

Skye has turned her life around and she just glows

On Sunday, Donna and I were sitting at the dinner table and told Skye how nice it's been lately because she's behaved so nicely. She said, "I know. I've turned my life around." It was stunning to hear her say that with such conviction. She's worked hard to learn how to get along without breaking so much glass and it's so nice to be around her. The family is settling into a new peace. I finally feel like we can exhale and stop waiting for the other shoe to drop.

Tonight, I heard Hunter tell her that he loved her. Twice. Her response, "I love you too, Hunter." It's music to a mother's ears to hear that. It gives me tremendous comfort to see the healing that has occurred in this family. I'm no longer shedding tears of frustration. Instead, I'm shedding tears of joy that I hope continue to help cultivate this new found family dynamic.

I'm not naive enough to think there won't be further bumps in the road, but I'm much more confident that Skye has the tools to weather those storms without lashing out and alienating herself from those who love her. And, I'm so grateful to the army that we have around us helping us find those tools. She hasn't just turned her life around, she's turned all of our lives around.