Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Where one door closes....a window will open to jump out of!

This week is Brandon's last week of elementary school. sniffle I'm a little sad over this. Okay lets just cut the bull, I'm a lot sad over this. It's like the end of an era. If I'm so sappy over this, can you just imagine when he leaves for college? You know you've seen those commercials where the minute the kid leaves home, the parents are turning their old room into some big thing, like an exercise room or a den or something. Well yeah, not me. Oh now I won't go creepy crazy over it and turn it into a shrine, but geez, let the kid have something to come home to on holidays! lol I seem to be getting ahead of myself here though. This year has been a toughie in parenting, between Brandon entering a strange unchartered age, Mom and Dad searching for a support group, and coming to grips with the "end" of something. The end of him being a kid I guess. He's already past that in looks, he's in a men's shoe size now, and just days ago I noticed he is most definitely taller than me now. As he stood next to me brushing his teeth the other night, the reality hit me. My kid COULD take me if he wanted to now. HA! I had a straight bird's eye view up his nose. This is why it is SO important to teach respect while they're little. If not then, by the time they get bigger than you, it might just be too late! And then I noticed his dark peach fuzz sprouting above his upper lip. I've had these recurring strange dreams lately, where I wake up, shuffle down the stairs, just like any morning, but as I round the corner into the kitchen, there sits Tom Selleck at my breakfast bar, telling me he's hungry, in Brandon's adolescent crackling voice. This is what I expect Brandon to look like when he gets older. lol Hopefully without the mustache. So with my son's rapid changes it's hard for me to keep him frozen in time as my "baby" anymore. He's moving on, with or without me for sure, so I better hang on for the ride! It's sure to be a bumpy one! We have several appearances to make for different end of the year celebrations at Brandon's school this week. Today was one such occasion, it was a class picnic/cookout. I have to say his teacher is a hoot, she has a great sense of humor (uh you'd have to to teach a classroom full of 12 year olds! shudder). So James, Hailey and I all went to celebrate and eat lunch with Brandon and his class. When we first arrived, we went in and waited just outside his classroom. The teacher was trying to get twenty eight 12 year olds to collectively shut up so we could get to the fun. Of course that's a futile effort, but at least she tries. After she finally regains control we all procede outside with a variety of food and the guys all go to do what they do best, fire up the grill. All the kids went different directions and Brandon, after a brief hey to his fam, ran off to play and not be seen associating with us again until we ate lunch. I talked with some of the mothers, we compared notes on our 12 year olds. It was sort of like a little support group meeting right there on the playground. HA! It's like every other mother there had the same question weighing on their mind. What on earth is up with my kid? So we laughed as we huddled together discussing the quirks of all of our kids, and we all breathed a cleansing sigh of relief because apparently, we all have very normal tweens that we will all have to find a way to love through all the arguing, mood swings and belching. Whew, what a relief! It's NOT just mine! Anyway, the food was prepared and what a spread we had! The parents sat back and waited for the kids to load up their plates. And what came next was much like watching wild animals paw and fight for food. There was a long line of 12 year olds that seemed scared the food would run out. Some of them clearly didn't like each other, or at least not for that moment, and picked at each other while moving through the line. The girls were more collected, but the boys were all goofy, gangly and gassy. Oh the loud sounds coming from many made most mothers look on in horror. I am sure we all were under the misconception that our sons were just heathen at home, not at school. But nope, not so. I am happy to report that Brandon held his gas until after he got home. So for that he got a pat on the back. But still, I'm sure he's let them rip with the rest of em before. So we all sat down and ate and had a great time, mothers talking meaningfully, a handful of Dad's talking in a real testosteroney way, and kids laughing and intermittantly running away from the food they fought so hard for to go play a quick round of basketball or tag. All in all it was a great time and a great way to observe their species at play, you know, the Tweenage species!

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