I have decided that I must be entirely insane at the moments I catch myself wanting another kid.  Silly me – I forgot that they grow up…and I recently discovered that there is no way I could ever handle two teenagers.

My niece, Summer, came for another visit over her winter break.  We looked forward to it for months (ever since her visit over the summer), and we counted down with Dom over the last few weeks of our waiting.  Because my nephew, who lives here in Maryland, had his winter break at the same time, I decided to host both of them.

Two thirteen year olds.  In our two-bedroom apartment.  During the week.  I think I figured that they were old enough that they wouldn’t be too hyper or loud.  I was wrong. 

On her own, Summer is silly and funny, but her volume is rather low.  But once Tommy was added to the mix, things got, well...out of control.  It isn’t that they are bad kids, or even that anything they did was over the top.  It is just that, well, they are teenagers. 

They stay up all night and sleep all day.  They eat a lot.  They are trapped in that weird place between childhood and adulthood…and they think there is nothing I could possibly know that they don’t already. 

So, should I ever again gleefully say that I can’t wait until Dom is able to get himself around, participate in school events, etc., please remind me of this moment.  Because, honestly, I am just so thankful I was able to send them both home.  And when Dom is a teenager, I will be stuck with him.