by Sarah | May 9, 2013 | All About Denver, All About Family, The Teenager
I think we all remember being grounded at least once in our lives.
Or many times.
I never minded – I’d be ordered to my room and have to stay there…
But I had my books. Nothing better than being made to sit in my room and read.
It might have been more punishment to make me go out an socialize.
Crippling social fear can do that to a person.
*~*
These days I’m the parent.
The one doing the grounding.
I’ve got it easier than my parents (only in this instance…in many ways my parents had it easier…).
Because I can send down the worst punishment of all with one keystroke.
Change the internet access password.
BOOM.
It’s the end of the earth as he knows it.
No online games.
No chatting with the girlfriend.
No netflix.
All.
Gone.
Punishment dealt.
*~*
I do love a good password protected router.
by Sarah | Feb 8, 2013 | All About Denver, Random, The Teenager
We’ve known for years the kid was smart.
If we forget, he reminds us (teenagers, right?).
He has the lofty goal of being a doctor at Riley Hospital (Preferably a pulmonologist, but he’s not limiting himself).
It’s a goal he can reach bringing home an A+ in biology.
But then when you breakdown the grades and look at where he’s acing & where he’s slacking…
I realize the kid is just like me.
He doesn’t do homework.
He skates by with test grades & labs.
Just like I used to.
He keeps that up and the A+ could drop fast.
I know from experience.
Not that he wants to hear it.
Teenagers.
~sigh~
by Sarah | Jan 29, 2013 | All About Denver, The Teenager
He just turned 15.
Now he’s Life.
After only being in Scouts for a few years, Denver has managed to scramble up the ranks to make Life.
For those not in the know? That’s 1 away from Eagle Scout – the highest rank. It’s a huge honor.
His goal is 1 year to Eagle, 1.5 at most.
We have no doubt he can do it.
by Sarah | Jan 23, 2013 | All About Denver, The Teenager
As a teenager, Denver refuses to get his picture taken…So this post is a nearly identical repeat of last year and chock full of embarrassing baby photos in hopes he’ll let me get some NEW pictures to use. Happy birthday, brat. 😉
Time sometimes flies like a bird, sometimes crawls like a snail; but man is happiest when he does not even notice whether it passes swiftly or slowly.
~Ivan Turgeney
Fifteen years ago this minute, as I was in labor, I still thought he was a girl. The ultrasound said girl. Everyone said girl.
My dreams said boy.
Mymorning walk to induce labor I stopped not at the girls clothes rack, but at the tiny little suits, ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the teensy little ties.
After three false labors I was forced to sit in the hotel room my Mom had reserved until I “Finally” stopped screwing around and gave birth already. (For the record, Denver was only 1.5 hours “early” for his due date.) When my contractions were finally 3 minutes apart, my mom called my OB, who then demanded to know why we waited. She, in her dry and sarcastic glory informed him that she wasn’t about to take me in if I wasn’t going to actually have the baby.
And so Denver made me a parent. With his perfectly round head and surprise appendage that made him decidedly NOT a girl, & made me wonder how in hell I was going to raise a boy.
But he was perfect.
The gorgeous blue of his eyes made me fall in love in an instant.
Everything on time. Every milestone reached at JUST the right moment. Every clothing size changing right at it’s declared time (0-3 months? Gone at three months. 3-6? Gone at six…it was eerie).
He was happy. Smart. Playful. Loving.
He was my world.
He was my mom and dad’s world.
The first born grandchild. The first born great-grandchild.
The star.
Our family grew. It changed.
Not always in the best, most fair ways for him. In truth, sometimes he was forgotten, because he was so ‘perfect’. So easy in comparison. (I hate myself for it, but it is true).
It never made him less loved.
In many ways, being the parent of a teen is infinitely harder than raising the young ones. He isn’t satisfied with easy answers. He sees the world around him in such a different light. He sees things that a younger child wouldn’t. He understands and absorbs everything. Things that I sometimes haven’t the slightest idea how to explain to him, to clarify.
Right now he is struggling, battling against an internal battle I can’t resolve for him. Fighting against the common, and always unique and personal pain of being a teenager.
But in his heart – he is a good kid. He is smart. He is still loving.
He is annoyed with his parents. Embarrassed that his mother has a tattoo and plans more. He hates failure. He strives to do his best and no one is harder on him when he fails than himself. Interested in photography. Science. Math. Writing. Cross Country.
He dreams big dreams. Of being a doctor at Riley so he can help other kids like him.
He achieves big things. Advancements in Boy Scouts, Junior Honor Society.
He struggles to fit in.
He is 15.
In so many ways.
He is my baby.
In so many ways – he always will be.
Happy birthday to my oldest, my first born.
15 is a big number. But you’re just getting started.
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by Sarah | Sep 13, 2012 | All About Denver, Cross Country, The Teenager
[flickr id=”6087274981″ thumbnail=”small” overlay=”true” size=”small” group=”” align=”left”]We aren’t really a sports family. Denver never really was a sports kid. He played soccer for a while, but then the cost outweighed his enjoyment factor and we let it go. For a while he played an instrument, but again he didn’t care for it as much.
So just before 7th grade he told us he wanted to run.
And he ran.
Last year in 8th grade he excelled beyond measure, his pride in his abilities grew. The kid was on his game. We were proud of him, he was proud of himself. It was a pretty stellar way to end middle school.
This year he’s in high school and joined the team again.
But this year there’s a problem.
Pain in his knees – and a new severe pain in his back are crippling his ability to run. He barely makes it a mile in practice.
So tomorrow we go and do something I never thought this family would see. A sports medicine doctor. Try to help his pain levels before the season is over. So that maybe he can again enjoy the sport he loves so much – and achieve the excellence we all know he has in him.
by Sarah | Aug 13, 2012 | All About Denver, All About Kennedy, All About Learning, All About Molly, All of Us, Blogging Life, Clever Girls, The Teenager
School starts tomorrow for my kids. We did the school supply lists provided by the teachers. Pencils, pens, notebooks & more. Spent hours in the store fighting the crowd of other parents and realizing that the store was sold out of quite a few needed items. In the end, headaches abounded and we headed home.
Of course, that only got us the necessities the SCHOOL declared necessary.
I still had three kids to make happy. What makes kids happy for school? Getting all the clothes considered ‘cool’. The most important requirement for a new school year.
Which I find hilarious considering at Christmas they all sneer at the ‘clothing box’ shaped presents. What is it about the new school year that makes buying clothes more than acceptable when any other time you dare to buy clothes you’re the devil?
Ah well, my favorite part about shopping for clothes that we don’t have to fight the stores. The teenager doesn’t want me to ‘help’ him shop for nothing, my girls are chaos in a store and I know their sizes.
Online I can find great deals, clothes on clearance that have been wiped out at the stores (believe me I’ve tried).
I can get ‘cool’ clothes for my kids that they pick out (like the “Awesome” shirt above – tailor made for the teens level of attitude and confidence…and the adorable dress over here -> that fits with my girls obsession with dresses, both at Old Navy).
So easy, convenient and doesn’t waste my gas driving into town for a stress filled afternoon of attempting to shop with a teen and two girls – one of whom gets over-stimulated in our backyard and is oh-so-fun when we get to crowded stores.
My kids are happy. I’m far less stressed, and saved a few bucks.
No wonder I’m addicted to the internets 😉
*~*~*
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective, and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
These days I’m the parent.
