Wednesday, March 28, 2007

a tween among us

I am still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I have a child who is almost 12 (in June).

(He has serious homework, and he has become very responsible about getting it done.)

I went to his "maturation program" with him a couple of weeks ago -- that's code for sex ed. these days. Apparently whatever they said was much more convincing than what I said, because he now showers every morning and wears deodorant.

Here he is, dismantling an old laptop we had that was ready to be junked (it was older than him!). You would have thought he hit the jackpot.

He regularly beats his dad at chess now, and he even beat his teacher this week, which was his goal for sixth grade.

Thankfully, he still plays made-up games with Lucas before bed and frequently has Pokemon battles with him. He is even getting pretty good at entertaining Eva, not something that came naturally to him.

Here's the kicker: I registered him for junior high!! Just walking around with him in the junior high school was freaking me out a little bit -- all those rows of lockers... I didn't really know what he had decided to sign up for, and he floored me by choosing orchestra. Apparently he wants to learn to play the cello! (Who knew?)

Jill told me that if I am going to have a child in junior high and I have to wear orthotics, I must be getting old. It certainly is beginning to feel that way...

19 comments:

Jill said...

It freaks me out that Max is almost 12. When did this happen? I feel like we've been bamboozled into parenthood and really never knew that the kids would actually grow and what the implications of that would be for us. What were we thinking?

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I forgot how far apart your kids are- a 2 year old and a 12 year old- how many different things you must deal with on a daily basis.

carlo said...

wow. so much in this post- jr high? sex ed? eeeekkkkk. sigh.

my girls are 9 and 4 and i think there are very different things to deal with but jr high and pre-pre-school must be very interesting...

Natasha said...

Yikes Michelle! Junior High?! I forget when reading your blog that your oldest is so much older than my oldest (6). Thanks for the peek at what's to come for us in the future!

Melinda said...

I am one year behind you! Thankfully he has one more year of elementary school before we head there.

The time goes soo fast!

Jordan said...

Michelle, yesterday, as my husband and I where putting out the fires of yet another squabble between our toddlers, he said, "you know these are supposedly the simplest our lives will be..." Yes, indeed. You are entering a whole other realm with Junior High on the Horizon. I hope to stay in touch and glean from your experiences before I'm knee deep in them myself!!

Liz said...

Oh my goodness! That would certainly make me feel old. I find it hard to believe that my oldest will be 8 this year! How did that happen?

charlotte said...

I can't believe Max is going into junior high! (And total score for the cello playing--I completely support that ;) It's still weird for me to think that John is in junior high; for some reason I think it's okay for me to grow up adn get older, but not any of my siblings. The difference between Max and Eva is almost the difference between me and Sarah--it's an interesting dynamic in my family.

And that's hilarious about his newfound interest in hygiene!

Allison said...

Wow, it is hard to believe that you have a 12 year old and a 2 year old all in the same house.

I bet it's hard to see him grow up so fast.

Unknown said...

you must be so proud of your tween! i know it's just around the corner for me (well, six years around the corner...) but, STILL...

sista # 2 said...

Wow! Been there!Am there!haha
Chloe turned 12 in 7th grade this year. I've learned as my kids get older, I get busier! Who ever said a stay at home mom -stays home!?
Not me. And thank goodness her dad can help her with math -I have a selected memory & erased it from my mind!haha -ciao

everything pink! said...

really sweet memories to look back on for sure.

Rin said...

I can not believe Max is 12. I remember him when he was 2. His vocabulary at 2 was twice mine at 16. I can't imagine the vocabulary he has now ;)

Jess told me about Eva saying good night to her purple dinosaur. Wow...I'm speechless.

Diana said...

I love all the things that Max chooses to be (you know opposite of waht Michael Scott says about Toby)
REally I do I only hope that my kids will be as smart and intersting as Max.
I agree with Hannah, I couldn't imagine dealing with a pre teen and a 2 year old. Yikes.

jenny said...

I am right there with you in exactly 2 years. It totally freaks me out as well. It seems as though I was just in junior high (even though it was over 20 years ago!) I know what you mean about having a mature child. Taylor is teaching me so many things on the computer I had no idea how to do!

Anonymous said...

Really, how does this all happen so quickly? My oldest is ten, and I feel like I've managed to keep her a little girl still, but I know this will come sooner than I am ready for.

My Avery plays the cello. She was in kindergarten and just had this immense desire to learn it -- we didn't even know how she knew what a cello was. I think it's an instrument that calls to you.

Amie said...

This gives me heart palpitations. I am so not ready for tweens but I see many evidences of Jessica getting close too. Sad, very sad.

Max sounds great I am glad you can pull so many positive things out of this age. Good luck. We will be waiting for lots of advice!

amy gretchen said...

It is crazy to think he is almost 12, going into jr high, and YM program. Where does the time go.

Price Cream Parlor said...

Time passes too quickly! Your little seems so grown up for his age - I am sure he will do well in this new school setting! It is hard for me that in 2 years I will have a high school graduate...and a child starting kindergarten at the same time! HA!
Doesn't it just seem that we were in jr. high and high school? Time passes too quickly!

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