31 Day Blog Challenge...Day 16

Day 16--What's your biggest accomplishment?

I really don't enjoy questions like these...I'm not a very introspective person so it is a challenge to have to answer questions like this...
I would say that my biggest accomplishment has been raising Joe.  He is 10 years old now and we still have a long way to go to get him to manhood so I know that I am not done but we've come a long way with him.   He has always been my "spirited" child.  That's a nice way to say "difficult."  He was difficult from babyhood on, very strong willed.  As a baby he was often only happy if I wore him in a sling.  That was the only way to get him to sleep, put him in the sling and take a walk or do dishes (not easy while wearing a baby).  Once he was asleep I would lay him down with the sling on top of him like a blanket so maybe that could trick him into thinking I was still close.  I used to be thankful that he was so insistent upon getting my attention because as the third child in 3 1/2 years, had he been an easy going baby, he probably would have been neglected.  As he got older and throughout the toddler years, every day was a series of battles.  He fought me during EVERY diaper change, when I had to dress him, bathe him, put his shoes on, feed him, put him in the car, and so on.  I used to say that he woke up every day with a newfound will to conquer me and establish himself as head of the house.  It would often take until the afternoon before he'd quit fighting me on everything, only to wake up fresh for battle the next day.  I learned very early on that I had to pick my battles because if I chose to stand my ground I had to win.  If Joe won in a battle of the wills with me, the next 20 battles were that much harder.  So, through a lot of coaching and counseling from Ollie (who has always been so much better at handling Joe), lots of prayer, and consistency, and mistakes, and lots of I'm sorry's from both of us...we took each day head on.  Over the years he has grown up and matured soooo much.  He has big emotions and learning to control them has been huge for him.  Now, when he "freaks out" about something he can later apologize.  He can verbalize that he doesn't like to freak out but sometimes he can't help it.  I have learned to have reasonable standards for my expectations of him.  I don't require a lot of him but what I do require I am serious about.  He needs time to process and time to decide that he's going to obey (he is not big on the whole, "obey right away with a happy heart" but he will always ultimately do what he is supposed to do), he needs to have some control (and would love to have it all), he needs a lot of attention, a lot of love and affection.  He is a really great 10 year old boy.  He is mature, thoughtful, crazy smart, funny, helpful, talented, highly moral, and kind.  With other people he would not dare misbehave or be disrespectful and so it is often hard for other's to believe that I could ever have any trouble with him.  I am very proud of him because I've seen how hard it is to be him...like I said, he has big feelings, he has a big imagination, and it takes effort on his part to stay in control when he's stressed or upset.  I could go on and on but I think I already did that enough.  You get the picture.  Making it through 10 years of Joe's life and seeing what a great kid he is feels like a huge accomplishment.