Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Growing Up...But Not Too Fast...

In less than two months, my son will be...thirteen. He's growing up so quickly and yet, he still is his mother's son, not to be confused with a "mama's boy".

Today would have been his second afterschool ski trip. Would have been, if we had ski conditions and snow here in Southwest Michigan. The ski slopes were actually going to be open, but the conditions were anything but ski-worthy. Prior to his first ski trip, T was interested and willing for me to go skiing as well, but I had to work late for a work training. T had such a good time, when I offered that I could go for today's trip...he hesitated. Then being brilliant he suggested, "Won't you be all skied out?" Brilliant, he truly is brilliant.

T really did miss me while I was out in Colorado, for the second week long trip in less than a month. To help alleviate his time with his dad and missing me too much, the Ex-BF came to spend the weekend at the house with him. I received many calls of hysteria from T - laughing at the Ex-BF as well as crushing him in almost every video game known to man! I even had to have a few lectures with T about not hurting the Ex-BF's feelings and being nice, which mind you only led to more fits of hysteria and streaming tears (trust me, tears and fits of breaths are amazing through the phone!)! They both did survive the weekend, neither getting hurt and they even managed to conspire to leave me a beautiful "engagement ring" of the worst known flavor (a cotton candy ring pop) on my pillow during my absence.

Today T had a tour of the High School. Due to reconfigurations of the district, he will be attending school on the High School campus this fall. In the next few months, parents will be included in the changes as well. T was pretty excited and a computer generated call to the house yesterday confirmed his field trip today stating that lunch wasn't needed. Knowing that T isn't ready for High School this was confirmed by the fact that this morning he asked if he needed a lunch! Growing up fast, but not too fast!

Last night he bartered with me that the Tooth Fairy hadn't paid him for his last tooth. We bantered back and forth that I had paid him and we recalled how and when. He held firm to the fact that he hadn't received any financial reimbursement, despite my challenges. Isn't he too old to receive money for something he doesn't believe in????

For his Gifted and Talented class, he created a website. A. Web. Site. I can't even figure out how to put in a proper link on a blog. Mind you, he assisted me with that too! He created his own website, without any assistance from me. Of course I think he wasn't very willing to show it to me - although it was mindboggling to me to see the technology and how he navigated! I of course fixated on his spelling and grammar, trying to grasp the fact that afterall he is...ONLY 12! He received a 1st place ribbon for his website and it will then be judged at the Regional Level. I was quite impressed with his achievement! However, he really wasn't. He said several classmates received ribbons and by him receiving a blue ribbon it meant more work for him to make additional changes and such before going to Regionals. It seems like he's beginning to understand that he doesn't want to be too smart. He is glad that G/T is done this year and has no desire to push forth in his academic career beyond those of his peers. He understands that he wants to balance sports and school and play and felt that this year he had too much homework, exacerbated by his advanced class. I can't blame him. For me, 7th grade was the hardest educational year of my life in addition to socially! I just hope that he continues to challenge himself enough to not be bored with school or fall into negative peer pressure.

It is hard to watch T grow. To see all of my co-workers and friends that have very young children and think remember when. But honestly, I'm more than OK with it. Because, I do remember when. I might not remember everything, but I remember the memories and I cherish them. I cherish every moment with him, as he grows taller and his hair grows longer and his mind gets stronger and he becomes wiser. For one day soon, very soon, he will surpass me in so many things and I'm Ok with that, because he is truly amazing and I can say I'm more than proud to be his Mom!

No comments: