The beginning of the school year in our family is similar to many other families: time to dig out the lunchboxes and backpacks, shop for school supplies, shove the stained and ripped "play clothes" to the back of the drawers, make sure everyone has sneakers that fit...
And as we journey through the first few weeks of school and everything starts to shake out and shape up, it becomes obvious that these third, sixth, eighth, and tenth graders are not the same kids I sent out the door last September. Somehow as we spend so much time together all summer, these changes are less noticeable, but this week as we've walked and talked together I can't help but be aware of how my kids are growing up.
Samara has been making concerted efforts to find ways to be helpful. Often when I'm working in the kitchen cleaning up or preparing for dinner she'll wander in and offer to help and is happy to complete even the most mundane of tasks: taking cans to the recycle box, sweeping crumbs up off the floor, putting rolls in a basket. More often than not, if there's laundry to be folded, she is eager to do that for me. In another respect, my girl's growth is equally noticeable - she now wears a size 6 shoe, she's in third grade! The good news is that we'll soon be able to borrow each other's shoes.
My other growing-like-the-proverbial-weed child is Eli. His growth spurt started last year when he grew six inches and gained fifteen pounds (it's okay to mention the weight gain of your young son, isn't it?) and it's not over yet. Finding jeans the with the right inseam and waist measurements is maddening; even more maddening is that in just two months those pants won't fit anymore anyway. We haven't officially measured recently, but I'm fairly certain that he is only about an inch or two shy of looking me eyeball-to-eyeball. This young man is still a deep thinker and very analytical, but it is good to hear him talk about his friends at school. Early on, like in preschool, Eli was so quiet and cautious that talking about friends was not something that happened frequently; it does my mother's heart good to know that he is growing inwardly and outwardly as well as upwardly.
Every serious bone in Evan's body, however, ended up in his brother's body. Every year at his annual physical I beg the doctor for a prescription for maturity pills; this son of mine loves to laugh, joke, pester, and instigate. He seems happiest when he's getting a rise out of someone. So where's the growth with him? It's certainly not up, he's about the same size as last year - at least he saves us money on clothes - and his shoes are a size smaller than Samara's. Evan's growth is evident when it needs to be: completing his homework on time without being reminded, remembering which days he needs his gym bag and violin on his own, being on time for violin lessons at school and then making sure he makes up any work he missed during the lesson time, he keeps his room picked up and orderly - and I hear from the teachers each year that he is also very organized at school. So when it REALLY matters, Evan comes through.
This year Fred has some new responsibilities at school: he has an on-campus job as well as an off-campus job at a local restaurant. The pride that he takes in doing these jobs well is wonderful to see. All reports so far are that he is a conscientious and respectful worker. For Fred it is often incremental steps that cause us joy - these jobs are huge steps that he is handling in a mature way - much joy!
Sierra has a wonderful spirited way of embracing all of life; she doesn't want to miss a thing and wants to make sure that no one else misses anything either - so she replays and broadcasts everything all the time. Gaining some self-control over her exuberance has been a priority and lately she has been rising to the challenge. This year when she gets off the bus after school, she allows her brother or sister to share something instead of talking the fastest and the loudest; when she's corrected and disciplined she will sometimes choose to walk away without an outburst. Another sign of her growing up is that during the summer she was able to practice getting her hair to look the way she wanted it to each day, so now she independently does her hair before school. Both on the outside and the inside my littlest is getting bigger.
For the first two weeks of school, that's a lot of growing going on.
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