Wild Child (a poem)

My oldest was an amazing little girl. I could take her just about anywhere, and she was respectful and funny and precocious. It was rare that I had to really “fight” her or wrangle her to accomplish anything. My second never has really bucked the system. He’s a rule-follower. My third is an old man at heart. There was a time I was tempted to find a leash, but for the most part he’s learned to stay right with us and be safe. The fourth, however, well, she’s our wild child.
When I was pregnant with #4 (who we call Diva), I somehow knew that she would end up being the most difficult. Maybe it was the couple of pregnancy scares she gave us. Maybe it was how often she kicked with so much more force. Maybe it was the fact that I had to drink 2 cups of coffee to stay awake long enough to make it to preschool drop off (read that again: TO drop off — at 8:30 am).
Whatever it was, my mother’s intuition kicked in, and I just knew. Boy, was I right.
Here we are, almost at her 3rd birthday, and I still sometimes don’t know what to do with her.
Will she climb to the highest parts of the kitchen?
Will she turn on a burner and try to fry an egg?
Will she just go on outside to play with the dogs before we realize where she is?
She keeps us on our toes, that’s for sure.
With that in mind, I’ve decided to write my Walk on the Wild Side themed poem about Diva. Enjoy!
wild child poem image

Wild Child

Asleep, so peaceful
Hair fanned out about your pillow
Mouth in a perfect heart-shaped purse
Awake, so different
Yelling
Screaming
Demanding
Insisting
Snuggling, so sweet
Warm cheek pressed to mine
Inhaling your toddlerness, exhaling peace
Climbing
Falling
Bruises
Cuts and scrapes
Look! It’s an oval.
You learn your shapes on
your broken skin.
Different from the others.
Brilliant.
Difficult.
Wild Child.
 


Read some more poems with the Walk on the Wild Side theme:
Karen of Baking in a Tornado with “Wild Side
Maja of 12personalities12 with “Four of Pentacles: Calculated Wilderness
Dawn of Cognitive Script with “Walking Wild
Diane of On the Border with “Really Wild
Jenn from Sparkly Poetic Weirdo with “Wildly Cautious
Sarah from My Brand of Crazy with “The Wild Ride

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