I'm living in a Talking Heads song
/
How did I get here?
I keep asking myself that question. How did I become the "old mom" in the elementary school? How did I come to the point of having two teenagers and a fifth grader?
I blinked, that's how. I just blinked my eyes and it happened. My kids are growing up.
How do I know this?
Because this morning Maggie revealed to me that she has seven new teeth coming in. Seven! She's losing molars faster than the trees lose leaves in the fall.
We spent the morning together talking all about her teeth and how she really wants braces to pull the very small gap between her front teeth together. I assured her that her teeth were beautiful and that she probably would be the only child in our family to NOT need braces because her teeth were so straight and also because God knows we just cannot handle another three years of orthodontia bills.
But my point is, Maggie's almost done losing all her teeth. How did this happen?
Kate's a junior in high school and all the talk around our house 24/7 is about colleges. And also because she attended post-prom on Saturday night which meant that we let our daughter stay out until 3 a.m.
Yikes! How did that happen?
And also because Abby turned 15 yesterday, and she starts driver's ed next week. Really now, I just got one kid through driver's ed with barely a brown hair left on my head and now I have to go through it all again. Seriously?
For some reason, Abby got it into her head that she should learn how to drive BEFORE she starts driver's ed class (isn't that what driver's ed is all about?) and somehow she thought that I should take her for a lesson on her birthday. She's been talking about it for weeks. And anyone who knows me knows I'm the kind of mom who hops to her kids' every whim, so I took her.
Please don't tell the authorities.
I drove her to a large parking lot not too far from our house, and since it was a Sunday night the lot was practically empty. I let her sit in the driver's seat for the first time in her life and taught her how to start the car.
We had a moment, just after she started the car, when I very nearly took back the wheel. Abby actually asked me which pedal was the brake and which was the gas. Oh my. It's going to be a long year.
But once she got the pedal thing straight, it was smooth sailing. She did a very good job for her first time driving. Despite the fact that her two sisters were in the back seat laughing the whole time.
On Sunday morning, B and I were enjoying a bit of quiet before the girls got up. We drank our coffee together and reflected on our current stage of life, how we are truly enjoying all three girls at the same time and how easy they all are at the moment. We both decided that we'd like to freeze our family just as it is now because while others we knew were rushing to get their young children ready for church, all fed and cleaned up before 9 a.m., we were sitting together having coffee while our children slept.
If only I could pry my eyes open for the next few years and just not blink.
I keep asking myself that question. How did I become the "old mom" in the elementary school? How did I come to the point of having two teenagers and a fifth grader?
I blinked, that's how. I just blinked my eyes and it happened. My kids are growing up.
How do I know this?
Because this morning Maggie revealed to me that she has seven new teeth coming in. Seven! She's losing molars faster than the trees lose leaves in the fall.
We spent the morning together talking all about her teeth and how she really wants braces to pull the very small gap between her front teeth together. I assured her that her teeth were beautiful and that she probably would be the only child in our family to NOT need braces because her teeth were so straight and also because God knows we just cannot handle another three years of orthodontia bills.
But my point is, Maggie's almost done losing all her teeth. How did this happen?
Kate's a junior in high school and all the talk around our house 24/7 is about colleges. And also because she attended post-prom on Saturday night which meant that we let our daughter stay out until 3 a.m.
Yikes! How did that happen?
And also because Abby turned 15 yesterday, and she starts driver's ed next week. Really now, I just got one kid through driver's ed with barely a brown hair left on my head and now I have to go through it all again. Seriously?
For some reason, Abby got it into her head that she should learn how to drive BEFORE she starts driver's ed class (isn't that what driver's ed is all about?) and somehow she thought that I should take her for a lesson on her birthday. She's been talking about it for weeks. And anyone who knows me knows I'm the kind of mom who hops to her kids' every whim, so I took her.
Please don't tell the authorities.
I drove her to a large parking lot not too far from our house, and since it was a Sunday night the lot was practically empty. I let her sit in the driver's seat for the first time in her life and taught her how to start the car.
We had a moment, just after she started the car, when I very nearly took back the wheel. Abby actually asked me which pedal was the brake and which was the gas. Oh my. It's going to be a long year.
But once she got the pedal thing straight, it was smooth sailing. She did a very good job for her first time driving. Despite the fact that her two sisters were in the back seat laughing the whole time.
On Sunday morning, B and I were enjoying a bit of quiet before the girls got up. We drank our coffee together and reflected on our current stage of life, how we are truly enjoying all three girls at the same time and how easy they all are at the moment. We both decided that we'd like to freeze our family just as it is now because while others we knew were rushing to get their young children ready for church, all fed and cleaned up before 9 a.m., we were sitting together having coffee while our children slept.
If only I could pry my eyes open for the next few years and just not blink.
