“This one here? Get ready—this one is my Sour Patch Kid.
I’m telling you, these kids…these kids are just built differently. Sweet one minute, sour the next, their moods shifting like weather vanes in the wind.
A Sour Patch Kid will likely cry incessantly for their first few months of life to express their general exasperation with the world. Only pausing when worn in a sling and bounced frenetically on a yoga ball at precisely a 37-degree angle with the lights off. The sound machine blaring after you dance naked at midnight during a blood moon. So much so that your mother casually asks if you’ve talked to the doctor, as if you hadn’t already spent hours researching colic and baby massage techniques, and which brand of probiotic drop works best.
Just when you’re at your wit’s end, just when you think you might go crazy from the lack of sleep and emotional exhaustion, your Sour Patch baby will stop mid-cry and grow very quiet. Their wise-beyond-their-years little eyes will gaze up at you in wonder and they will smile the BIGGEST smile you’ve ever seen. Your heart will melt into a sticky, goopy puddle.
The good news is they eventually stop crying.
The bad news is then they start yelling.
These Sour Patch Kids? They have a LOT to say, they have FEELINGS about it, and OPINIONS. At some point you might just find yourself locking eyes with a 3-year-old who deadpans, ‘Mommy, are you really going to wear THAT today?’ before flouncing off down the road in a blue princess dress and tiara. AS ONE DOES on a walk in November.
Sour Patch Kids are the life of the party, but they also need time to recharge and be by themselves. How will you know when they need some quiet time? Believe me, you will know.
They follow the rules, on their terms. They ask all the questions, especially the ones that cannot be answered easily. They don’t do fake. There’s no room in their vocabulary for artificial sweeteners, what you see is what you get.
They have a love-hate relationship with sleep, and sometimes they will buck every nap attempt, then you will find them wide awake at 10 p.m. reading books to themselves in the dark.
In case I haven’t mentioned it already, these Sour Patch Kids are incredibly bright. They are wicked smart and good at everything they put their minds to. If they don’t it perfectly the first time then THIS IS DUMB, AND I AM NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN.
Sometimes they will stun you with their kindness and catch your hand out of the blue to kiss it and sing, ‘Thank you! For everything you do-ooo!’ Sometimes they will be so overwhelmed and overstimulated, the words that fly from their mouths will not just be sour, they will be barbed, fiery, and aimed directly at you. You have to remember not to take it personally, you are their safe space…but it’s hard.
Truth is a lot of the hard, crazy, and sour stuff buffs out. The stuff that doesn’t makes them spicy in a flavorful way that everyone loves, kinda like sriracha, then they become amazing, independent, and strong adults.
Wouldn’t you know? All those big emotions lend themselves perfectly to understanding others and how they’re feeling. That is when their sweetness shines through the brightest.
This one here is my Sour Patch Kid.
She’s sour and then she’s sweet and someday I think she might rule her own kingdom.
Watch out, world. These Sour Patch Kids? Well, they are just built differently.
That’s exactly what makes them so special.”
This story was submitted to Love What Matters by Emily Solberg. You can follow her on Facebook. Submit your own story here. Be sure to subscribe to our free email newsletter for our best stories, and YouTube for our best videos.
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