Five days of school left for our kiddos. My third child is currently in 5th grade. Next year, he will be moving up to middle school. It will be a big change for him, probably a little scary for him. Last night was his 6th grade orientation at the middle school. He forgot to tell me about it until three hours before it started. My oldest son went to the same middle school, and my daughter is currently a 7th grade student there. So, the middle school orientation?....been there done that. Twice. I found myself not really wanting to even go to the orientation last night. Did I really need to sit through the same speeches I've heard in years past? Uniform policy, disciplinary rules, daily schedules...etc. I already know all this stuff. Surely, my older kids could fill him in on anything he would need to know about middle school. But, then I realized, just because I've "been there and done that", he hasn't. This is all new for him. I felt bad for not being as eager and excited about this new time in his life as I probably was with his older brother and sister. That's the way a lot of things seem to go when you have several kids, I guess. With pictures, for example. With my first child, we were at the photography studio every three months on the nose, having new photos made. By the time my fourth child came along, we barely made it into the photography studio once or twice during his first three years of life. Of course, I did take a lot of my own candid pictures, but, still, nothing like we did with the oldest. And, the "baby books"....my daughter's is lovingly filled out page by page and full of pictures. With my youngest, I never even opened a page.
It makes me sad to think about it. I don't want my younger two boys to feel left out or neglected when it comes to things like that. (Don't get me wrong, they are nowhere close to "really" being neglected, but, you know what I mean). What about those of you who have several children? Do you find yourself "slacking" with your younger ones?
I'm happy to say, we made it to the orientation and I think he had a lot of fun. They went on a scavenger hunt and practiced opening the combination locks for their lockers. The parents went to the cafeteria and watched a slide show about the school; that's when it really hit me that he is growing up. Then, I was happy, scared, and excited for him, all at the same time. I even had to hold back a few tears during that slide show.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
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3 comments:
I'm right there with you. I filled out my oldest son's baby book with every memento and special date, I don't even know if the youngest one has a book. Same thing with the pictures. The oldest had his taken many times and the younger son only at his 1 and 3 birthdays. Now my oldest son is getting ready to go into 6th grade this fall and will be playing sports. Thats been the hardest thing for me to grasp, that he is old enough to be in sports at school.
They just grow up way too fast.
I feel like I missed out on the studio photos with my third, too. I guess life gets busy after a few children. I think we all need to remember that the memories are made day to day with kisses and hugs, not pictures. At least, that's what I tell myself to feel better :)
Dont beat yourself up. Each memory is special in it's own way, we didnt always have cameras, computers, and camcorders to record all these moments. Jennifer is right, it is the day to day hugs and kisses that matter most!
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