I'm just Not Hip

So, last week Noah had something (I don't remember right now) and was pretending to "text" his friend at school. I kind of blew it off a little, not ready to deal with it. He also asks periodically if he can have a cell phone.

Last night while he was playing with his DS (He gets a half hour each day that he gets no behavior tallies at school), he was once again saying he was texting his friends at school. We had a little discussion that he couldn't text on a DS anyway.

But then the conversation went a little further this morning. Why does a second grader need to be able to text people? Won't he see them in a half hour any away?

But it brings me to a bigger issue. My own lack of full entry into the world as it is today. I may be the only thirty something who doesn't text. We don't even have it activated on our phones so that we're not tempted. Both of our sets of parents, and all of our siblings, text people every day. Yet I am still in the Dark Ages. I see nothing wrong with it, but I just don't want to enter into that world just yet. And I REALLY don't want to enter my boys into it.

While we were at Steve's family's home for Christmas, my two nephews (ages 19 and 15) were playing pool...kind of. After a shot, each boy stopped and texted with someone else during the game. Have the teenagers of today lost the ability to focus on one person at a time?

I think I am mainly thinking about young people at the moment. I completely see the purpose of texting as an adult. Can you pick up some milk on the way home? I think I'll stop by for a visit later? Where are you? etc.

But do our kids REALLY need this? If something is important, couldn't they pick up the phone and call, thereby ensuring human contact?

Please, please, please do not be offended by this post. I am not against anyone who texts and I know at some point I will break down and join in. But I am fighting the entry of my children into this world. Between car accidents cause by teenagers texting, the stories of "sexting" going around, and other issues, can't I just keep my boys sheltered just a little bit longer? But is sheltering them putting them behind in the times?

When we were talking about it this morning, Noah listed almost all of the kids in the class who were talking about texting yesterday. I think there are genuinely times when children DO need cell phones. If they are in situations when they have to contact a parent, then it may be necessary. But there is rarely a time when Noah or Aaron are not in the same vicinity of one of their parents. So doesn't that mean that they really don't need one...yet?

I know there will be a time. And probably sooner than I realize. But for right now, I choose to be the uncool mom who does not see the need for my seven year old to text people. I've told him that if he wants to call someone on my phone, he is free to do that. They are growing up so fast and I am still struggling to find the balance between letting them grow and keeping them innocent.

If you have a comment, just text me. Oh wait, you can't... I'm still in the dark.

Letting Them Grow Up

When our helpless newborn babies are put into our arms, we have to do everything for them. And we enjoy doing everything for them because we like that that is our job...helper, protector, nurturer.

I have noticed a trend with myself, as well as my friends, that as our "babies" grow up, they are capable to do so much more than we ask them to do.

It starts in the chores we give them. We may forget to increase responsibility as they get older. Perhaps because it doesn't occur to us that they can do more for themselves. And whether they realize it or not, they WANT to do more.

This becomes more and more clear to me each time I watch one of my children have a new experience. It is one of the best reasons that, although I am a strong supporter of home schooling, I am glad to be sending the boys out into the world for their education. Other people see our kids as one of a group and ask more of them sometimes than we do. Perhaps because they are not so personally connected to our "babies".

This weekend, on a whim, I asked Noah to go get the laundry basket, take it to the basement, empty the dryer of clean clothes into it and bring it up upstairs. I was expecting a complaint. What I got instead was a basketful of clean clothes upstairs ready for me to fold. This morning, as I headed downstairs to start two more loads, it was Noah who was begging to go do the laundry. They have been sorting and putting their own laundry away for over a year now, but it was the first time that I realized that they were indeed ready for even more.

And then along comes Aaron this morning asking for juice. Out of curiosity, since I was in the process of writing this post, I responded with, "Sure Honey, go ahead and get it." Sure enough, he went to the fridge, got it out, got out his own glass, poured it, drank it, put the juice away, and cleaned up his dishes.

It is so hard to give our kids the independence that they are craving. Either we don't want to believe that they are ready, or we're just not ready to admit that inch by inch, these Little People are turning into Big People right in front of our eyes.

And then there's the POWER TOOLS.

This past Friday night, Noah's cub scout troop all got together to build a bridge. The troop is very new (only it's second year) so they need a ceremonial bridge for the senior cub scouts to cross over in preparation to becoming boy scouts in fifth grade. They wanted all of the boys to participate in the building of it, which I thought was a really neat idea.

So we went over, and the dads that were in charge did a wonderful job rotating all of the boys so they had a chance to participate. I was thinking that it would be simply having the boys pound a few nails.

But I was very wrong.

Apparently, seven year olds are old enough to not only learn the rules of power tools, but also the ability to use them correctly and safely with minimal guidance. By the end of the night, Noah was rotating the three different drills needed for each hole without much help at all. I have a feeling that a lot of these moments are going to arise out of cub scouts. It's a good way for me to learn even more about letting go, as difficult as it is for me.




But all this being said, it doesn't mean that I'm happy about letting go. It's weird how it's so exciting to see them becoming more themselves and less of us yet so sad at the same time. This will probably become a theme this year as my "babies" continue to grow.

But I can still go in while they are sleeping and take solace that my "big boys" are snuggled deep down in the covers with their arms around their favorite stuffed buddies. At these moments, they are still my "babies" after all.

Weekend Top Five

You know, some weekend I struggle to try to think of five interesting things we did. This weekend I have the opposite problem. I am having trouble narrowing it down.

Aaron's birthday took over the weekend quite well. A birthday weekend is always fun.


Hold on to your hats people...here we go.


5. Friday night at the mall

Every one kept asking me what to get Aaron for his birthday. It became a quandary for me as well because Aaron is different than Noah was. Noah knew what he liked and what he wanted from an early age. Aaron just kind of goes with the flow, which makes it a little more challenging.

So we decided for his birthday to let him go to Build A Bear and make a bear for his birthday, since he never had before.

He filled it with fluff
















Gave it a "bath"














Gave it a name on the computer ("Man") for his birth certificate











and gave it a hug to officially make it his own


















Of course, the bear had to accompany him to the play area in the mall, including a trip down the slide











and when we went into the book store, there was a special Friday night story time with Spot the dog there to greet kids. Spot the dog loved "Man" too.















4. Saturday Morning Toy Battle

There are no pictures for this joyful experience. Saturday morning has become a battle ground in our household. It is the ONLY day of the week that I require the boys to clean up their rooms. It has become more them complaining and me yelling at them and it is pretty much as ineffective as is it is stressful on all of us.

After an hour and a half of the fight on Saturday morning, I had had enough. I marched upstairs and just started scooping up toys off of the floor. One by one, I marched all the way to the basement with them. Noah of course flipped out but I was determined to follow through.

I am not quite sure about how to have him earn them back yet. I guess we'll see what happens next Saturday morning during clean up time.

3. Birthday Trip to Chuck E Cheese

Since we knew we were having Aaron's party the next day, we decided to take the boys to CEC for a fun night on his actual birthday. Deb brought her girls to join us.




Aaron enjoyed the games
















Aaron and Noah rode the simulator together









Tried to play skee ball without throwing the ball into other people's lanes

















and Aaron learned to do something else that I had never had to deal with before...token begging
















2. Church

After all the hullabaloo, I didn't do anything wrong this week.. Woo Hoo! Actually, I have pretty much hid in the choir room or Sunday School rooms so as not to offend anyone and because I don't really know whom I can trust anymore.

The good thing though was that my cherub choir performed really well, even though about half of them were gone this week. Noah participated really well...he really is one of the strongest singers in the group. He is on the top, 2nd from the right.








1. Aaron's Birthday Party

We have quite a small house, so at about 2:00 Sunday afternoon we decided to clean out the basement and try to hold the party downstairs. It worked out pretty well.


We fed the kids


















They played Halloween twister. I learned that my niece Piper is EXTREMELY flexible.












Noah picked out trophies for prizes to the winners. Look how proud my birthday boy is in front.











Had cake. Nancy brought the cake for us. She called on Saturday morning to see what kind of cake. I said, "Oh, just pick whatever." About two seconds after I got off the phone, Aaron says, "No, Mommy, I want chocolate." so he got to call her back and make his request . "A Chocolate Superman cake"







All of the kids loved playing with the Lincoln logs that Aaron got from Grandma and Grandpa













So, yup, it was definitely an action packed weekend. I hope you will consider participating in the Weekend Top five. Feel free to steal the button at your right and sign the Mr. Linky below. Ii really is a fun way to sum up your weekend and also make a user friendly post for your readers to share your weekend events.

Wordless Wednesday: Aaron's Turning 4!

Aaron through the years



3 Months













6 months















9 months













12 months...1st Birthday




















18 months












2 years

















2 and a half
















3 years























3 and a half years










Stay tuned tomorrow for the birth story saga.