Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Rites of Passage

This year is a year of watersheds for my oldest kids. When they were first born, they seemed to grow into precocious toddlers quickly, new shoes, new outfits, solid food, first words, and first teeth all within one year. I filled baby books with updates practically every day. Time seemed to slow from Kindegarten to third grade. Other than adding a little sass, there were fewer and fewer firsts. This year, my oldest girl will be graduating from the 8th grade, her body transitioned from child to young woman. Kris's voice is now deeper. He is suddenly taller than I am and his feet grew from 10 to 13 in a year. Yesterday my oldest boy signed up for drivers ed and started looking for a job! EEEEEEEEEE. It just wasn't that long ago that he was 6lbs 15 oz, 19 and 3/4 inches long and slept his days away. I remember the day he was born like it was yesterday. My child will be turning 16 in a month, will drive a car, and will be asking "Do you want fries with that?" Where did the time go? I used to read "Mike Mulligan and his Steamshovel" to him. Yesterday, we had our first discussion about budgets, bank accounts, and the responsibilities of employment. Me? Well, I'm in denial. I DO NOT have gray hairs in my head. (Now that I tweezed them out of course :) ) I DID NOT start gaining a little girth around the middle. I DO NOT have wrinkles forming. Though their physical growth is once again in full force, their bodies have far surpassed the growth of their minds. Teens are still black and white thinkers, they are jaunt rocks not yet softened by friction and I am conscious of the fact that what will shape their minds will be less and less influenced by me and more and more influenced by whatever life holds for them. I can only hope that I get to see with my own eyes what the final creation will be.

2 comments:

Nonalee said...

Does this mean that we can't call Kris "fiffer" or "squeak" anymore? Wow the time has flown! It will be a rite of passage soon for our younger ones as they both enter Kindergarten in the Fall. Yikes!

Kris said...

Nope, Nicknames have no time limit. He will be "Fiffer" when he is old and gray (I call him "topher too)