Parker (8th Grade) and Kennedy (6th Grade)
I would have taken one of my other two except I totally forgot--poor middle children. (Which I guess is better than the poor 6th child--we actually taped over her birth with an episode of YuGiOh...) But I digress...
All of these back to school posts caused me to reflect on how things have changed over the years for my family. I remember that I could not wait for my oldest to go to school. Oh sure I cried a little on his first day (just like I did for all of the other's first days) but I would be lying if I said that I wasn't ready to have a bit of a break. I used to actually get mad when it was a school holiday--"inservice AGAIN????" Because that meant I had all 6 of the munchkins home at one time and I don't know if you are aware or not, but six kids is a lot of kids. I had #5 during the summer and let me tell you, we didn't plan that well because all of them were home for two months while I attempted to adjust to another newborn and my crazy hormone levels while refereeing pokemon card battles and video game turns. After a disastrous trip to Wal-Mart where I attempted to take an 8,6,4, and 2 year old plus a newborn (clearly I wasn't thinking straight) shopping, I swore to NEVER give birth in the summer again. (True to my word, Kennedy was born in April right after spring break. I'm a quick learner...)
It's not that I didn't love my kids, because I did. I just loved the idea of them being at school more. I used to PRAY for all day kindergarten because who are we kidding-- half day Kindergarten should really be referred to as "Kindergarten Hell." It's not long enough to actually get anything done--particularly after you've loaded up a van full of kids to pick up or drop off your 5 year old--but you still have to go through the gigantic hassle of getting the kid up and ready for school. It's a total tease. My prayers in this department were eventually answered-the year after my last child went to kindergarten. That figures. (The same thing is bound to happen the day after son #5 earns his Eagle Scout...)
So, I had a lot of years where I pretty much did a happy dance the day school started back up in the fall, but this year was a little different. I was just a tad melancholy as the summer wound down because these kids of mine are growing up. McKay is a senior and so this is a year of a lot of "lasts" for him. It seems like yesterday that Davis was wearing yellow rubber boots with every outfit and this year we had to special order his Nikes so they were "just right." Parker is in his final year of middle school and with Kennedy in 6th grade for the first time in 15 years we don't have anyone in elementary school. And yet, even though all this change is a little sad it's also sort of great.
We've seen a lot of growth in our kids over the last year and a half and I've grown as their mother. I realized this week that even though there are growing pains and times that I want to pull my hair out, I'm learning to be more patient, I'm letting them find their own way a little more and they are coming out better for it. I love that they all get themselves up and ready for school without any nagging on my part. I love that the kid that a year ago used to grunt at me when I told him goodbye now makes a point of being in a good mood in the mornings. I love watching a brother and sister walk out the door together deep in conversation. It makes all of those difficult times worth it.
Even Kindergarten Hell.
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