Hangin' on!

Several nights ago, I walked into my living room and found poor Woody hanging from the blind pull. Things like this no longer surprise me. I once opened the microwave to 15 two inch green army men pointing their weapons at me. Batman finds his way into my Christmas nativity each year, and at any given time, you can find super heroes at the bottom of my purse. However, I did draw the line when I opened the shower curtain to find a Darth Vader mask gazing at me.

Woody is one of my favorite Pixar characters, and brought a smile to my face after a particularly long day. He reminded me of the Thomas Jefferson quote, "When you reach the end of your rope, tie a knot in it and hang on!" This was just the advice that I needed after a particularly long day.

I am moving into a brand new phase of motherhood. Just when I had the whole elementary school, lets learn our colors, work on our manners, learn to be responsible with your toys, get along with your brothers, put the toilet seat down, parenting kind of stuff worked out...it all changed. I am now officially the mother of a tween. Dictionary.com states that a tween is a youngster between 10 and 12 years of age, considered too old to be a child and too young to be a teenager.

My first born son, is 2 months from being 12, and things are different around our house. I'm not sure I'm ready for the changes. I have attacked my computer and googled everything I can find on parenting a tween. The common thread is that a tween is not at all predictable! And I like predictable! A predictable child makes seems safer to me. A non-predictable son...well, you get the picture.

In a one week span I experienced Avery being a part of a locker room fight...getting his first detention (for an entirely different reason than the fight)...finding that my very organized son is no longer organized when it comes to bringing homework home, taking his trumpet to school on the day he has trumpet lessons, and forgetting to tell me that he has football practice on the day I have scheduled a dentist appointment...AND...realizing it was time for Clark and Avery to have "THE TALK." Many questions followed in which I would love to blog about because they are beyond hilarious, but have been warned not to!

I miss the soft scent of baby lotion. It has been replaced with sports deodorant that is sprayed liberally and often. I miss the times that we sang the Wheels on the Bus one hundred times in a row. It has been replaced with the Ipod and ear plugs. I loved sitting down and coloring together, and now we spend hours at the table on fractions and looooong division. I miss trying to come up with answers to Avery's constant flow of creative questions. Now I'm the one asking a zillion questions, in hopes of getting just a few details about his day. I miss the hours he would spend banging on pots and pans while I cooked supper, and now he grabs his football and heads outside.

Yes, things are changing. I'm learning to have a relationship with my son in a different way. I'm learning football stats and players as well as if they were my neighbors. I'm trying not to hug in front of friends, but relish the tight squeeze around the neck at night when no one is around. I'm learning that cuddly PJ's aren't as cool as boxers and an old t-shirt. But most of all, I'm learning to make the most of these tween times. I'm going to tie a knot in the end of my rope and hang on, and like Woody I'm going to plaster a smile on my face and pretend to like that my children are growing up. I might have to grab a friend (like Woody has Chubaka) for support during this new phase. But most of all I'm going to pray longer and harder, and once again place my sons in the hands that loves them more than I ever will. And remind myself that He has ordered their steps, and He is holding the end of the rope that I am hanging so tightly to.