Two

Child 2 had a rather significant birthday this last weekend.

Not one of those slightly quirky personal Important Birthdays (for me that would include 6 [favorite number as a child], 11 [far cooler than 10 which for some reason didn't impress me at all, 16 [Age of Official Dateableness - thank you Mormon upbringing] and 24 [I have no idea why, none at all, really, just something about that number... it even sounds a little sexy... tweeeeeentee fouuuuuuuuuuur]), an actual, real, official Very Significant Birthday.

The one that means, technically, it can no longer be called Child 2 at all (but of course it still will be. It's going to be seventy-leven some day and STILL be called Child 2, poor thing).

Maybe the fact that this birthday was looming did something to the Child's little brain - set off some amazing neural storm somewhere. Because something happened to this Child, somewhere between one blink and another, and before I knew where I was it was talking about career options - about how it wants to do something meaningful, something that will make a difference. More than that though, it had calmly sat itself down and worked out how to make such a plan work. It sat an entrance exam and didn't just do well, didn't just excel - it got the highest possible score. Then it scheduled itself a far more difficult exam (a language battery) and walked out with a bit of paper noting that it had gotten 48 points above the lowest minimum requirement and 33 points above the highest requirement. There are currently several people literally begging this Child to deign to consider allowing them to offer it a dream job complete with signing bonus.

At the same time it has ceased (mostly) poking it's sibling's buttons, has decided to allow its admiring and loving relatives to (now and then) hug it, and has become the Agony Aunt and Relationship Guidance Counselor for most of its circle of friends (apparently it listens to the problem, calmly says something like, "you're an idiot. Cut it out," then pats the friend kindly on the head).

In other words, somehow this Child has managed to do the almost unachievable. It not only became an adult, it also grew up.

I've never been more proud.

Happy Birthday Child 2