Falcom Becomes a Teenager

Kaylene said something disturbing to me this weekend.  "Just think, next year Falcom will be able to drive."  Up until this point Falcom turning 13 only meant that he would be going to middle school next year voluntarily and that I would be giving him 13 kisses every night instead of 12.  This realization took me to a whole new level of parenting thought.  Falcom with a learners permit?  Really?

 Falcom invited several friends over for a party.  Some had a sleep over, some went home.  I was missing Irene when I was trying to throw together a 6th grade scavenger hunt.  When Falcom turned 4 (or 5) we had a scavenger hunt at Hornaday Park that Irene made treasure maps for.  The kids had such a difficult time mucking through the mud in the cold that the time and effort she put into burning the edges of the map made the experience that much funnier. 

It is interesting to me, the older Falcom gets the less energy I am required to put into these events.  Yes, I made the scavenger hunt but the rest of it was all them:  the trampoline jumping, the mad lawn dancing, the dress up followed by watching horror movies. I have to put less energy into events,  but I have to put more energy into other aspects of development.  For instance, "Alana, why is it that some parents don't allow boys and girls to have sleep overs together when they become older?"   This variety of question takes much more effort to answer than, "Alana, why do we have to go to bed?"  or "Why can't we have 12 people on the trampoline?" 

I didn't have to bake him a cake.  He wanted Vanilla Ice Cream cake from Safeway.  Some loyal blog followers might recall my most widely read search engine generated blog post of all time....  Falcom's Ninth Birthday.  There have been many artistic expressions of my birthday flare which were multihour meditations on my love for this child, this year, was not one...  But it did not matter to anyone at the party that they were eating store bought cake.   They were so busy being social with each other that, I had to do very little to amuse anyone, and because no parents are hanging around, there is no one to impress!  Ha!

 Fortunately for me, I had DT to help chaperone the event.  He is the only adult in the house willing to sit with a bunch of kids while they watch "Bride of Chucky."  He definitely earned his mettle this weekend!

What was everyone else doing?  Marina spent the night at Mema's so that the party could run more smoothly.  Iris got to have some candy on a day other than Saturday so she was stoked.  Willie got to help DT supervise the Chucky watching. 

The best part of the party for me was that Falcom had Andy practice at 10am the next morning and so everyone had to eat their delicious breakfast and go on home. 

We love you very much Falcom, and if you must grow up and do things like learn to drive...  I will participate, just maybe not willingly...