Growing Up

My kids are always trying to convince me that they're growing up. And truthfully, they are. Faster than I can keep up with them. And while often this creates some astounding growing pains, and severe separation anxiety on my part, there are times when its just downright amusing! Which is a good thing, since I'm much prettier when I'm laughing than when I'm crying. :) Really, I'm not a pretty crier. Some women are beautiful when they're crying. Me... not so much. My face ends up looking more like a toddler got a hold of it with their finger paints. But I digress.....

Ok, so Jock is only 14. Not anywhere near driving age. At least, not near the age in my book. In his, its only days away. He could do it now. I mean, he looks old enough, so why not? These are his arguments. So umm, yeah... future lawyer he isn't. :) However, this weekend his dad let him back the truck out of the driveway and then park in on the street along the sidewalk in front of our house. From the goofy smile on that boy's face you would have thought we had just handed him the keys to his very own car and waved him off. And he did a decent job, too. Didn't back over any neighbors, their pets, or trash cans, and didn't run into any other cars. He even remembered to put the truck in "park" before turning off the engine and removing the key (Which, considering the POS Coach drives, isn't always needed. Scary!). All in all, it really wasn't such a big deal. However, he's now considering an alternate career if the whole NFL star thing doesn't work out for him. He's gonna be one of those "professional driver on a closed course" guys for car ads. :)

Fortunately, Bug still knows he's years away from anything as cool as backing the truck out of the driveway. But he still wants me to know he's growing up. We were over at Grandma's house this weekend, and he wanted to go swimming. (Yes, we are still able to swim in outdoor pools this time of year in Arizona! Just means that the water temperature is closer to the the temperature your shower gets as its running out of hot water than it is to the temperature of a nice bath.) When I looked at him and reminded him that the water might be a *bit* chilly, he looked me straight in the eye, with as serious a tone as any 9 year old boy can get, and said,

"No worries, mom. I can take it like a man."

At which point I had to leave the room. Before I laughed. And that would have been bad, cuz he never really takes it well when I laugh at something he's meant so seriously. And then later the next day when he was telling me about it, and scoffing at my warning that it would be cold since it obviously wasn't, I heard his brother pipe in with this one:

"Oh yeah? Well, dad let me drive the truck."

'Cuz that sounded so much cooler than what really happened. "Dad let me back the truck out of the driveway" doesn't have quite the one-upmanship quality, does it? And I don't think you ever really outgrow that need to one-up a sibling.

Well, except for me. But everyone knows I'm better than my brothers. Just ask! :)