The loop.

My child, my child, my twelve year old son. He makes me so proud. He makes me want to pull my hair out. And all this in the same day. Today, I learned that he has fallen behind in many of his subjects. He assumed someone would hand him a list of all the assignments he needed to make up due to recent illnesses. Not so. Taking responsibility for oneself is part of growing up, and learning that is rarely an easy lesson. I count my blessings that he is beginning to learn this in the sixth grade - and not next year in junior high. I don't doubt that there will be continued need for parental supervision in his work, but I am really proud of him. He's been through a great deal this year, with the changes our family is going through. He's had to grow up a little faster than I might have liked, but in many ways he has already shown strength beyond his years. I count my blessings, as well, that while we were working on back homework, I found out about the poetry project which is due this Thursday. We plowed through as much of this week's work as we could to make room for more make up work in the last few days of the week. It threw me for a loop, to have all of that work land on my kitchen table this afternoon - and I totally blew my good food behavior - but, it's coming along just fine. The fact that I was able maintain my emotional composure - even if I had to down a big bowl of Cocoa Krispies to do it - was really important in helping him to feel that he could accomplish what had to be done. These lessons are all going to serve him very well in the years to come. I can see that he is less and less panicked by difficulties that come along, and all I can say is HALLELUJAH! My baby boy, my firstborn, my precious child is not a baby anymore.