Last time I wrote we had just gotten back from our trip and were headed into prep for a 13th birthday and end of summer/start of school. I took a few notes so I wouldn't forget some items...here goes.
Birthday. I have a 13 year old. An official teenager. I of course saw this as a major milestone, BIG deal kind of thing. My daughter, on the other hand, kept asking why everyone is asking her, "Do you feel different now?" She's like uhhh, No.HA Her birthday was really bumpy because this year she wanted a pool party at the neighborhood pool. Even before scheduling this I said hey, weather can be an issue, are you sure you want to do this? Yup. So, with that foreshadowing you can only imagine the day of her birthday nice, sunny, hot....and as the day goes on it starts showing showers/thunderstorms exactly at the time of her party....and sure enough about 30 minutes before her party time complete downpour. Sometimes storms are in/out quick so we weren't sure what to do, wait, go to neighbor's pool (we asked and they were open to it)...my girl was on the verge of melting down of course....because we had planned it all in advance...the decorations, balloons, cookie cake, the color theme of pink and gold, bringing in canes for dinner, etc.. So, long story short we ended up texting everyone that we needed to reschedule to the following day. Some who could come one day couldn't come the next, and vice versa, so we still ended up with about 7-8 friends which was just perfect. My girl has started to be interested in what she's wearing and asked for cro.cs, since all the kids now wear the white ones with socks. and now she can too.
With that, we looked ahead at preparing for school....and
this year it was just extra crazy. I truly felt like I bought more things this year
than ever before. That probably was true because my girl has grown so much now
that the shorts and shirts she's been wearing for 3 years (she just grew
taller, so things still fit her) finally were just too small. She needed shirts
desperately. She's a kid where if it ain't broke don't fix it. She will wear things into the ground before she gives them up. Shopping w/ her isn't super fun because she doesn't love it, nor
do I. She is mostly into athletic clothes, so we simply went to those stores
and at least found some tshirts and shorts. But, in addition to all of her
clothing and his few shirts/socks, we needed to buy them both bookbags,
shoes, her running shoes for cross country, water bottles, school supplies....I
felt like I spent a small fortune prepping for school this year. And, we even
started early to shop!
Once the whirlwind of shopping for all the stuff, getting
the sports physical (which my girl is almost 5'7"), driving my girl to start of her JR high end of summer workouts, etc., going to ortho to finally get her braces off--school snuck up on us and just like
that it was the first day of school. I have to say for the first few days, I
really felt discombobulated with getting back into the routine.....although it was
still kinda fun because I got into the excitement of getting all the gear ready
for the first day. In addition, neither of my kids had to change schools yet so it was simply repeat of last year--same location....no real stress/worry for me about them. That will be next year! This is my son's last year of elementary at 5th grade and
they have a tradition of letting the parents walk kids to class on the first
day. My son has always said yes, he wants me to do it. He said the same
this year so I assumed we'd do the same thing--drive to school and walk to the
classroom. Well, as we were walking to the front of the school he looks at me
and starts to give me a hug and say goodbye. I was like wait, what's going on?
I then realized he wanted to say goodbye at the front door and not have me walk
him to his classroom. Too bad for him I was not having it. I said son, I'm
here, it's your last year, we ARE walking to your classroom, we ARE getting a
picture of you with your teacher. He was getting so mad, but he knew I wasn't
going to give up so we went in. Oh wow he was turning red, walking in front of
me...kept looking back and giving me mean face, etc..But I proudly walked him
to his room, got my picture, said goodbye, and went on my way. By the end of
the day when he came home he was over it. This is also my girl's last year of junior high--not even ready to think she starts high school next year. I just can'T.
Then, as soon as the regular routine of school started to become regular, in comes the start of cross country, in comes the start of soccer, in comes the start of theater, and very very quickly we are back to being in it all. The coordinating, the carpooling--although less this fall because my girl's carpool friend Selina didn't do cross country this year...I asked my girl about carpooling w/someone else and she wasn't having it. We got into it a bit because she's a kid, she doesn't realize the extra it puts on me to take her every morning and drag her brother along because I won't leave him home alone at 6:30am. Super frustrating, but I didn't push it too hard and just sucked it up. And that's what we are doing. This morning was the last practice and districts are tomorrow evening. This year again, she's not the fastest, she's not the slowest. She's not totally into the sport...she says she's using as a way to get into shape for basketball. I get that, but when we are standing there in the 100 degree heat at the meets....it's still a commitment for all of us.
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