Twelve

Then . . .

. . . and now.

Today Kevin, my oldest baby, turned 12 years old. Sometimes it seems as though an entire lifetime has passed since the night I held that tiny baby in my arms for the first time. It's hard to reconcile that little baby with the adolescent he is today.

Somtimes I feel like it's all passed us by too quickly . . . I had all these plans, things I was going to do for and with Kevin when he was a little boy, and suddenly I blinked and he wasn't a little boy anymore. It's bittersweet. He's a good kid, growing more and more independent all the time, which says we're doing our job as parents - preparing him for the world at large. But sometimes I really, really miss that sweet little boy who would show up at the side of my bed in the middle of the night and say "Mommy, I want to snuggle with you."

~~~

It was a fairly low-key affair, Kevin's birthday. We got him a cell phone - yes, a cell phone. I cringe at how that looks, like we are raising kids of privilege and excess, but the truth is that I've resisted getting him a cell phone for quite a while. However, given that he is being given more freedom these days - freedom to hang out with friends, ride his skateboard and bike around the neighborhood, etc., it's really become more of a safety thing. I want to be able to get in touch with him at all times when he's not at home, and vice versa. Thankfully, the phone has major restrictions on it which Michael and I get to control by way of the internet, so that's the kicker, and was the selling point of this particular phone. He also got a new bike, which he really needed, as he had outgrown his other one. Michael took him and a few of his friends to an arcade/fun zone for a couple hours this afternoon, and he got to choose what to have for dinner (nachos . . . can you say CRAP?) and he wanted a pie instead of a cake.

And there you go.