This week, above all else, I realize that these three are growing up. Right before my eyes. It used to make me a little bit sad. But now I'm beginning to realize how much joy it brings me to watch them grow up, get older, grow taller, learn new things, hit new milestones . . . and all the while they're pulling away bit by bit. It's not that they don't "need" me anymore. They just "need" me in different ways.
Here are some things I want to remember from this week:
1. Last night I went to Open House at school to meet with the kids' teachers and get their progress reports. When I walked into Hannah Kate's classroom, her teacher looked at me, smiled, sighed and said (and I knew exactly what she was going to say even before she said it!), "Hannah Kate. Oh, Hannah Kate. Okay, I need to talk to you about her name." I laughed. And then I sighed. And then said that her name is Hannah Kate, but she wants to drop the Kate, and it's okay for her to call Hannah Kate whatever Hannah Kate prefers.
2. At the same Open House, Mason's reading teacher said Mason looks just like me. So I told her that she's not seen Mason's dad! I whipped out my phone to show her a picture, but then I forgot about it after we started talking about something else.
3. Drum roll, please. Mason currently has a 98 A in reading! An A. And a 98 A! As a matter of fact, he has all A's, one B and a low grade in science (which we are working on). But an A in reading?! So the very next thing I did was skip down the hall to see our beloved Mrs. Blanchard and show her. We then proceeded to do a happy dance in the middle of the 2nd grade hall. I am not kidding. Mrs. Blanchard was not only Mason's teacher. She became a dear friend to me. I told her last night that when Mason graduates high school (in a mere 8 1/2 years!), I absolutely want her there sitting beside us!
4. Ellie is taking her new found pottying to the extreme. As a matter of fact, she clearly abused the privilege this week at Bible study. One of her teachers is the same teacher she had last year. So Mrs. Jean has Ellie wrapped around her finger. And Mrs. Jean is wrapped around Ellie's finger, too. I was hesitant, but I decided to let her wear her big girl panties instead of a pull-up. She finally, during the past week, started telling me when she has to go instead of me just taking her every couple of hours. She's perfect when it's the two of us, as it is most of the time. But she gets really distracted in the evenings when Mason and Hannah Kate get home and oopsies happen some days. And she still won't poop in the potty. So you can just imagine that. But, I digress. Anyway, she did very good at Bible study on Wednesday. She did not hesitate to tell Mrs. Jean when she needed to go tee-tee. And she told her again. And again. And again. So Mrs. Jean would take her hand and lead her outside and to the bathroom. Well, she thought it was a field trip apparently! She loved getting to hold the teacher's hand and enjoyed the birds singing and the clouds in the air as they walked. And Mrs. Jean caught on. So the last time Ellie asked to go (and keep in mind that all of this happened in a 2 1/2 hour period), Mrs. Jean told her no. And I told her that was perfectly fine! Ellie is also fascinated with public restrooms and wants to go potty at EVERY store we go into. I will be so glad when we're past this phase!
5. Ellie has always been very vocal. But her vocabulary continues to explode everyday with new words that we can all understand. She's also speaking in short sentences. She calls Mason "Mase" and Hannah Kate is "Kate" or "Sissy" (which is so precious because she says, "Seeee-sy"). Today she saw a picture of herself and said, "Eddie!" That's the first time she's ever called her own self by name. We just need to work on our "l" sound.
I know this already, but it seems like a lesson that I have to learn over and over again. Or experience over and over again because I keep on forgetting. The days are long, but the years are short. Every minute with these three is a gift. And I need to soak it all up. As a friend of mine likes to say, these are the good days!