my baby vs my Big Boy

My baby went through a rite of passage yesterday, as did his devoted mom.

My baby, my boy, my D went to his first sleep-over last night. Yes, he is growing up. And there is no stopping it.

Brendan's,daddy called up on Monday and asked if David would like to go over and spend the night on Thursday. "Oh... well, um, I'll have to talk to him about it," I sputtered. "He has never spent the night at anyone's house before," I explained, "And we will have to talk about it." I promised to call him back within the next day to confirm, or send regrets.

I got off the phone and told D that I had something rather important to talk to him about. I explained that Brendan's dad invited him to spend the night.

"Oh! Good! Yea! I wanna go, Mom," he instantly replied, before turning to go back about his play.

"But wait a minute, wait a minute... think about it, hon. You've never been overnight at someone's house before..."

No hesitation, "No, I wanna go, Mom." He shook his head up and down and offered a reassuring smile.

Oh. O-kaaaay.

I called and told Brendan's dad that D would be there on Thursday. I hung up.

I started counting down the days.

Last night, Thursday- the night I let go just a little bit more, was a rather long night. I awoke at least a couple of times. Each time I said a little prayer that my little boy was safe and sleeping comfortably and well.

I won't go into how I called him to say good night or how I brainstormed ways to kill time this morning and early afternoon before I could pick him up from his friend's house. Let's just say the minutes did tick by, however slowly, and I was only about 10 minutes early to get my boy.

He isn't my baby anymore. He is almost a first grader.

He went and spent the night at a friend's house with barely a backward glance.

There is absolutely no doubt. He is officially a Big Boy.

what have i created?

Okay, so today D was sitting on the floor in the family room with his dvds in a wicker box.

What does Little Einsteins start with, Mom? he asked. At six and a half (he always adds the "half"), D still doesn't consistently have his R or L sounds down in his expressive language.

I was sitting at the kitchen table reading a book. I looked up briefly and said, What do you mean? The letter it starts with? He shook his head up and down, taking all the dvds out of the box and fanning them out on the floor.

"L," I replied, sounding it out- lll-ll, el.

I went back to my book and then looked at him again and smiled. My heart raced just a little faster. Oh my, surely it wasn't possible.

What are you doing, Buddy? I almost dared not ask but did anyway, Are you putting your dvds in alphabetical order? My heart skipped a beat.

Yea, he shrugged.

Oh, that's a neat idea, Honey! Cool! I tried not to act too excited but organization always thrills me and my son was initiating a very useful strategy all on his own!

Hmmmm... then I started to wonder whether he inherited some of my anal retentive leanings. Was it really a good thing? Afterall, I alphabetize my spices and color-code the clothes in my closet and people have said that is bordering on OCD (but really, retrieving what I am looking for is sooo much easier that way!)

I sat and considered all these things. Maybe my son alphabetizing his dvds wasn't such a good thing afterall. Maybe incessant hand-washing or turning on and off the light a certain number of times were right around the corner (no, I do not do either one.) Could this emergent organization strategy be a "bad" thing? Naahhhh.

Organization is a good thing!

Now if he would only acquire a hankerin' to clean (something I am not too motivated to do at all anymore) we would be in good shape.

back in business

My geeky (and I say that with great respect and admiration) brother-in-law Karl helped me get my computer "tuned up" today. Thank you, Karl.

He set me up with Safari and Firefox. Tweeked this and adjusted that and taught me a few keystrokes and shortcuts. Yay! Isn't technology fun?! I am having such a good time with it. Hopefully I will continue to learn more and more!

I finally tracked down and reposted some of my favorite links too. Yay again. Be careful if you decide to visit a few of the sites- you can easily while away several hours! Some of my very favorites are the gardening links, such as autumn cottage diarist and perennial passion, a goodie for Michigan gardeners. Be sure to check out tse-tse and aisforapple under Stop for Art too! Enjoy.

fourth of july

What a nice 4th of July. We went to my dad and stepmom's cottage and spent time with family, near and extended. The cousins splashed in the lake and had a great time together. I love spending time with family. Today did my heart good.

are you kidding me?! *@#!

I had spent many hours deliberately and/or aimlessly cruising the cyberways to include some of my current favorite links. I proudly added them to my "links" list so that I and visitors could visit these magical and useful sites anytime. And guess what!??? They disappeared! P@@F! gone. Back is the original Google News and two additional generic tags. Arggggh!

Okay.

Back to square one.

at church

There has been a lot written about the emergent church movement and what it looks like.

Given that right at this moment I am blogging this while sitting in church might qualify this place as one of those new-fangled emergent churches. I am not in the main auditorium (we don't call our main worship room a sanctuary because frankly it isn't, it is an auditorium). I am seated in the large common area that has bistro tables and leather chairs and couches. It is more comfortable for a single mom like me-- no losing out on the shared arm rests separating the chairs in the auditorium or being a "lonely" single wedged between neat intact families.

So maybe this "emerging church" has made a comfortable place for me, a divorced single mom. Although it is not in a visible leadership position to the congregation, then at least it is at a stylish bistro table in the lower level of the building.

And coffee (lattes and cappucino for a price but regular ol' joe in help-yourself carafes) is only about fifty paces to the right.

words for today

breathe

be

allow

relax