Teenager in the house

We have a newly-minted teen now! I started this blog when Ads was around 3 years old, so that also means my blog is about a decade old :) What a decade its been, since this whirlwind came into our lives! The first few days and months after Ads was born were filled with sleepless nights, pain, exhaustion and moments of pure joy as we fell in love with our adorable and exasperating baby. I have to say nothing much has changed since then! I still worry disproportionately about him, no one can frustrate and exasperate me as he does and he still fills me with immense pride and joy at the young man he is turning into.

Methodical, ethical, honest to a fault, puritanical, finicky, intellectual - these are all adjectives that come to mind when I think of Ads. His integrity, well I don't know where he got it from :) Suffice it to say it's very inconvenient at times! His penchant for following rules and his horror at flouting any, is a source of great amusement for all of us at home. He is obsessed with cleanliness and I have to tell him off for washing his hands so many times a day that they are completely dry and cracked with excessive use of soap. He can't stand disorder and untidiness, and used to routinely pick up bits of trash thrown in the common areas in our community in Bangalore. He still does it here :) 

My young man is quite unsocial. "Why do I need friends" he asks. Errr... so far, he seems quite happy in his own company. He loves science (physics and especially quantum physics is his thing), cricket, reading (non-fiction only). He spends a lot of time on Khan academy and has been teaching himself calculus and trigonometry. We keep asking him to work on the social skills (Make eye contact! Be interested in other people!) and hopefully it will make a dent at some point in the future, cos it ain't making a dent now, that's for sure!

As Ads enters a new phase in his childhood, I see in him all my experiments (failed and successful), my own uncertainties and struggles as a new mother. I am sure parenting this particular teen will be harder than parenting this toddler. So bracing myself for a wild eventful ride!