Tag: growing up

gratitude, kids, kindergarten, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting, self-discovery

It’s Time

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Full Speed on kindergarten screening day. Where did the time go?

We all have the ability to stop what we are doing and allow ourselves to be awakened to the present moment.  For me, it happens in the most random situations.  I was helping Full Speed’s home room Mom decorate his teacher’s door for teacher appreciation week.  Then it hit me.  Full Speed is almost done with kindergarten.  I let this thought settle over me.  It made me feel a pit of resistance in my stomach.  This year has gone by too fast.  He is getting older.  Every day he needs me a little bit less.  Every day I want to hold on to him tighter.  Instead, I have to let him go more freely.

I snapped out if it.  I returned to the task at hand.  The door was appropriately decorated and it was time to go.  Still some sadness over watching my boy grow up clung to me.

Full Speed had not felt well over the weekend.  He was tucked into bed early that evening to help combat whatever virus he was fighting.  After he was resting, Mad Dog and I heard an indistinguishable yelp from his room.  Mad Dog ran to investigate.  There was blood and Full Speed was visibly shaken.  Mom was called in for back-up.  The initial thought was Full Speed’s virus was now becoming more serious causing him to spew blood. 

Nope.  It was only a loose tooth that needed to come out.

I was so relieved.  And then I wasn’t.

The loss of a first tooth means baby teeth are making way for the grown up ones. 

I don’t like it.  I don’t like it at all.

Thankfully the tooth fairy is better adjusted to the growth of children than I am and left Full Speed a generous gift of money. 

Too bad she can’t give us back the gift of time while she’s at it.

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children, kids, life in pictures, mommyhood, motherhood, parenting

Testing…

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Test Track, a popular attraction at Epcot, at ...
Image via Wikipedia

 

We were at Epcot for the day.  The weather was pitch perfect, the boys well-behaved and we were having a marvelous time.  Mad Dog insisted one of our first stops was Epcot’s Test Track.  I remember Test Track from a past trip and let’s just say, I’m not a fan.   Mad Dog and I had taken Full Speed along with my nieces and brother-in-law about two years ago.  Here is the photo of me completely relaxed and enjoying the ride:

 

Yes, I'm that big of a scaredy-cat

 

Fast forward two years and now Mad Dog wants to take both my boys.  Was he serious?  Yep.  He instructed me to go sit at the exit by the gift shop (of course the exit is by a gift shop).  I did so and ordered my mind not to think about how frightening I found the ride as a grown adult.  I ignored the instinct to grab my three year old T.Puzzle and run for the hills.  I sat quietly and I waited.

That’s when it began.  The mind-numbing roar of the test cars on the track overhead.  Each sounded like a freight train colliding with a Mack truck.  Oh, and then there were the piteous screams of the helpless passengers spilling over and making me feel very, very nauseous.

Okay.  I can do this.  I can pretend to be a rational Mommy and wait patiently.

Roar.  Scream.

Roar.  Scream.

By this time my anxiety had reached full throttle.  My stomach was in knots.  A kid next to me joked that it was taking so long for his older brother to emerge because someone must have been flung from a car.

Roar. Scream.

At that point I almost lost it.

Another fifteen minutes passed and keep in mind, my boys supposedly had fast passes to this ride.  I think I aged about thirty years as I waited for their ride to be over.

Finally, I saw them.

They were perfectly fine.  T.Puzzle cried a little at the end (the scariest portion), insisted he would not be riding it again and was quite proud of himself.  I pretended to be all calm and collected.  I congratulated him and let him have him his moment.

Looks like my boy is growing up.  Unfortunately, this feels a whole lot scarier to me than any ride in the world.

children, kids, kindergarten, motherhood, parenting

The Big Bird Blues

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Big Bird
Image by LR_PTY via Flickr

We had a great holiday weekend.  Somehow three days didn’t seem like enough.  I guess that’s a good sign that Mad Dog and I actually enjoy our time with our kids.

I don’t know if it was the longer weekend but whatever adjusting I’ve done over Full Speed and his start of kindergarten seemed to go out the window.  I was feeling very sad last night as I thought about this morning’s drop-off.  He still is doing an awesome job and seems to love all the newness and challenge of it.  Good for him, bad for me.

Full Speed when kindergarten seemed lifetimes away.

I’m sure I’ll adjust and by that time he will be moving on to first grade and I will be moving myself towards more emotional binge eating.

As for T.Puzzle his recovery time is winding down.  We see the eye doc tomorrow and while playgrounds and tae kwon do will still be off limits, he will most likely return to his preschool this week.  During his time at home I learned he no longer likes Sesame Street.  This may not seem like a big deal but to us Moms, it means the end of an era.  I still have not been able to erase it from our DVR.

Kindergarten and no more Sesame Street, it really is the dawn of a new age.

When Elmo and Big Bird were the bomb... oh, where did the time go T.Puzzle?
children, mommyhood

Teacher Tears

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As you all know, yesterday at Target was a complete disaster (see Duck and Cover). I called in reinforcements for the afternoon because little T.Puzzle’s behavior remained naughty throughout the whole day. Our babysitter came in the afternoon so I could pick up Full Speed from school without having to take little T.Puzzle. Then, Mad Dog and I would go on to have a lovely date night in which we saw the movie ‘Date Night’. In my opinion ladies, Mark Wahlberg steals the show. Check it out.

So, as I make my way to pick up Full Speed, I feel a few minutes of freedom from my  T.Puzzle-related anxiety disorder and savor my five minute solitary car ride. When I reach Full Speed’s classroom he is out on the playground. His teacher always chats with me about his day and upcoming classroom events. As she approaches she says, “Oh man, I almost cried today.”

My heart drops. Oh no. Don’t tell me Full Speed had a bad day, too.

“What happened?” I anxiously venture.

“He just looked so grown-up in his cap and gown for graduation pictures I couldn’t take it. He is such a little man.” (Yes, there is a graduation for voluntary pre-kindergarten. I know, it’s a bit much.)

I let out a long breath that I hadn’t realized I had been holding. “Oh, thank God he had a good day,” I say.

If he hadn’t, she wouldn’t have been the only one holding back the tears.