growing up

Lots of growing pains lately...for mommy. Watching my boys continue to develop their distinctive personalities, likes and dislikes, passions. (or should I say passionate likes and dislikes!)

The beginning of another year of school has brought even more changes. Both boys headed full on into school each embracing it according to his personality. J was initially excited; everything was new and interesting, however his excitement quickly subsided as he realized that in first grade the amount of "playing" during school has sharply declined. He's doing well grasping concepts, understanding the work and his reading continues to expand. Things have changed...he doesn't seem to be so impressed by his "new found knowledge"...seems to him new learning experiences come with new responsibilities for one's behavior and work. Don't get me wrong..the teacher reassured A and I thins morning that J is a good kid...he's just..."a boy"...this seems to interpret (in J's case) to a bit distracted, a little restless and somewhat impatient about ANYTHING taking too long!

Tonight J and I played our favorite bedtime game of writing a sentence for the other and then having that person draw a picture to go with the sentence. He really loves that game and I love to watch him use all his creative energy to come up with clever sentences for me to draw and then to illustrate the crazy sentences I hand down to him (i.e. tonight's was "The alien threw toast at his enemies!") As we snuggled to close out the night he showed me his new loose teeth...the two top front and center. It struck me like a knife to the heart...there goes my baby...when those two teeth are gone and his new ones come in..his face will begin to change...it will be just the beginning of his journey into manhood. The dance of our relationship will begin to change once more..and more frequently I will lose the grasp of his hand if only for one moment...but that brief moment will feel like an eternity.