*Acceptance is the First Step....

As I am learning to accept the fact that my children are growing up.....I am learning that I have to have grown up talks with them.

Corey is the youngest....now 4 and in school full time, he has developed new behaviors. He becomes pissy emotional when told he is too young to do things. He is upset in the photo above because he wants a driver's license and does not have one. So Joey made one for him that says, "I Can Drive".

Talking to him and explaining that he will grow up too, is bittersweet. Seeing the elation on his face when told he'll be a man like daddy one day, makes my heart flutter.

Joey, playing air-guitar above, is 7. He is the middle child and a lot of the times.....bless his heart, on the back burner. He is SUCH a good child that he just doesn't demand a ton of attention.

He is at an age where he is easily frustrated by his little brother, and usually disgusted with his older sister.



He marches to his own beat, hates that he can not have a Mohawk all year long, and is now reading chapter books (that he is so so proud of). I am trying to teach Joey that girls in fact, do not have cooties!

 

Ariel, the big 1-5, is my source of indigestion gray hairs  energy. She is 100% becoming her own person.....woman. She is way too busy for my liking, and she juggles so much that I see me in her. She is in all honors classes, makes honor roll, runs cross country, cheers, is Vice President of FCA, in Public Relations for FFA and runs track. She makes it ALL a priority, does not let anyone down, and gives a thousand percent........UNTIL she gets home. (Big smiley face)....you hush, Mom! She has a hard time rinsing a dish or putting away her own clothes. Typical in every way, I suppose.



I am trying to let her learn on her own, what true friendships/relationships are and mean. It is extremely difficult, as a parent, to see your child learn first hand that a relationship is not what they though it was. My instinct is to save her...before damage is done....but that would not teach her anything.

She is learning to drive now. A HUGE deal for a parent. I am so proud that she is becoming such a responsible, smart, efficient, young woman, but it does make me yearn for those days when she was learning to tie her shoes.

And PS......I am teaching Ariel that boys DO have cooties!