Passages

It always sounds so cliche when parents say "where did the time go" and "how did they grow up so fast?" But I'm gonna say it -- Where did the time go? How did they grow up so fast?

Charlie's class watched THE MOVIE at school this week. I wasn't prepared for that -- probably because Charlie never gave me the letter saying that they were going to watch THE MOVIE. So, when he got in the car on Tuesday and said "Mom, we watched the 'Just Around the Corner' movie today," I about swallowed my gum.

(We call it the "Just Around the Corner" movie because that's the refrain for the song played in the movie, hinting that bodily changes are just around the corner for these 4th graders.)

Charlie was quite fascinated by the content of the movie and proceeded to tell me about in detail. Well, he tried to tell me, but Annie was in the car and positively grossed out which gave me the legitimate opportunity to tell him we'd talk about it later. Then as soon as Mike got home, I promptly reminded him that I had handled THE TALK with Annie and now that Charlie had seen THE MOVIE, it was Mike's turn to have THE TALK.

In another "where did the time go" category, Annie and I attended a high school information night at school on Tuesday. I swear she was just in kindergarten! She's only in the 7th grade, so we have a little time, but next month we'll be going to several open houses at high schools she is interested in.

When I was her age, I had two options for high school: Catholic or public. That was it. She has 5 Catholic high schools and the public school to consider. Truthfully, we're only going to look at 3 of the Catholic high schools, ruling out two of them based solely on the fact that they are too far away for a daily drive.

She doesn't want to go to the public school and I don't think I want her to either, but I do think we should at least visit and tour so we are clear on all of our options.

So we went into the information night knowing only what we've heard from friends about each of the schools. I had a pretty good idea where I thought she should go, as did she -- though her idea was different than mine. By the end of the night, we were still on different pages but we'd flip-flopped, me leaning more toward her original selection and she toward mine.

Good thing we have some time. If anyone has any tips for how to choose a high school, what questions to be sure to ask, I am all ears!

At least I still have Robbie, who will always be my baby. Today was gym day and I was caught with no clean gym shirts.

So I said, "Robbie, can you just wear a white shirt with your sweatpants?"

"Sure, Mom," totally unconcerned with the "what will the other kids say?!" and not even the least hint of drama about the potential (perceived) embarrassment.

Gosh, I love that kid!