My firstborn is a teenager now.

Unbelievable. Days long, years short.  It wasn't so long ago that he was these versions of himself...



.. and now, in a flash we have the teenage version. Nearly as tall as me. Very likely stronger than me, with all that swimming and gymnastics he's done. A delight.



He was five when I started this blog. He was making fairy traps in the backyard and falling asleep during car trips.  Now he waters the garden and organises his room and stationery for going back to high school, and worries about how his hair looks.

To celebrate his big birthday we rose early for a pancake breakfast ...


(no photos of that so here he is opening his presents.)

... took a train trip into the city ...


... saw a movie (Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2) ...


... came home and watched some Modern Family episodes (the dvds were his birthday present)
 

 ... had dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant...


... and then had birthday cake at home.


I have it on Tracey's authority that teenagers are wonderful human beings and that we shouldn't assume that the adolescent years will be awful. My gut feeling is that Climber won't be awful, given his sweet nature and kind heart. I do expect him to give me cheek and question my authority, and that has started already, but he's pretty funny with it so it's not unbearable.  (Yet.) I think that what I really fear about the teenage years is the inevitable pulling away from us, his parents, and while I see on a rational level that this is something that needs to happen, I will miss the close and almost exclusive relationship that we've had. My intention is to follow Suse's example; she said once that no matter how old her children get, the rule is they must still kiss and cuddle their mother. This is a most excellent rule, and I hereby put it in writing.



Happy birthday gorgeous boy. Every day you make us happy.

High School

Hello Blog.

There are all sorts of things I could be saying here today (wherefore art thou January, for example) but what I really need to tell you is that my firstborn  - who has been 12 years old for a mere week - started High School today.



We rode our bikes to school and when I left him there with another kid he knew, he was looking really stressed and was focussing on finding a place to lock up his bike. As Cherub and I rode away together to his familiar, and by comparison, little, primary school, the memory of Climber's evident tension and the reality of my own became too overwhelming and stupid tears started to leak out which lasted my whole ride back home too. Just consolidating my reputation as the Mother Who Cries, really...

Fig A. First Days of School in our house...



Also: Fig B. Crying at Climber's Graduation from Primary School...

 

and Fig C. Crying on Climber's last day of Primary School.



Of course, I am not sad he's going to High School - I think he'll have a fine time and do well, and I'm looking forward to seeing the young man he'll become.  But I do get rather emotional and anxious at times of change, particularly where the kids are concerned. It's all right.  I'll probably have it in control by the time they start University. 

The Grade 6 Graduation Ceremony

Climber finishes Primary School for ever in just under 2 weeks. Whilst we are all excited about the next stage of his development (Fixit and I had our High School Orientation For Parents last week, Climber is off tomorrow for his own orientation day), we are also experiencing sadness at the end of an era. How is it possible that 7 years can fly by so quickly, how?

Our primary school, like most others these days, holds a Graduation Ceremony for the departing Grade 6 children. Ours was last Wednesday. A special smart, casual outfit was required so I took Climber out shopping for a shirt with a collar and some nice jeans. This was the first time in his life that we've done that, having survived all these years with hand-me-downs, the occasional hand-sewn and the rest staple el-cheapo knockabout clothes from Kmart and the like, which don't require children to be present at the purchasing. This is what we bought him:

 

When he was trying the outfit on at the shop, there were couple of other mums who gasped a little when he emerged from the changeroom, then commented to me how handsome he looked in the stripey shirt (buy both shirts, they said, but we just got the one).  I was more preoccupied with the fact that he'd come shopping with his soccer socks and shinguards still on - getting skinny jeans on and off over shinguards is quite a struggle. Lucky he's agile.

We took some pre-ceremony shots... .



..and then it was time to drop him off at the school hall for dinner with his grade and his teachers.  Fixit and I then went and met some kindred parents for a meal at a nearby restaurant.  Cherub went to stay the night with his best friend.

At the ceremony, there were speeches and prizes.  Ten children volunteered to speak on various topics (teachers, outings, special happenings, funny stuff, friends).  I was very proud to see Climber be one of them -   he spoke very well indeed, about outings and excursions.
 
 

Then they all sang a song, during which there were tears galore, from audience and performers.  Climber was one of the kids struggling with emotion as he sang, I of course was one of the tear-drenched parents.

Finally they came up. one by one, underneath a past and present photograph of themselves and a quote they'd chosen, to receive their graduation bag of goodies and to be wished well by their teacher and their principal. Waaaaaaaaaaaah.

 

I'd cleaned myself up a bit here, but you can see the eyes, they are red with crying!



Climber came straight to me afterwards for an emotional hug, but we managed to smile for the camera.

 

Afterwards was a bit of a party, and then home to bed where Climber once more got quite upset at the ending-ness of it all.  So sad.

It was great to have a ceremony to mark the end of what has been a very happy period of our lives. I think the kids felt very special and loved, and a little bit mature too, like the grown-ups they're starting to become in the next stage of their lives. It was a very emotional night and we were quite wrung out for days afterwards.  Only the final assembly to get through now!

Pardon?

We were sitting at the dinner table tonight and our conversation with the Climber was getting quite animated, when out of nowhere a small doleful voice announced no-one listens to me. And a small doleful Cherub-boy leant his face into his hand, and looked glumly at his plate. There was a moment when both Fixit and I sat frozen, just looking at our small son, while we replayed the conversation in our heads and realised he had been trying to interject without success. We then added insult to his injury by bursting into surprised laughter, but we reined ourselves in and asked him to tell us what he'd said.

The thing is, we're so used to him being our happy-go-lucky baby that we forget he's growing up, and getting more complicated. So sometimes he has to remind us. He's only got 5 (five!!) more days left at kinder, and he's just spent the last few weeks attending Transition programs at school. (School!!!) See the new school bag and school hat on that big boy there?



Sorry bubsy. I will try harder to listen to you.

First day of Kinder

He had a great day!


Predictably, I had a little sook in the car after I dropped him off. But I'm alright now.