I have been bothered by this for a few weeks. My children believe they are grown up. They are in a lot of ways. I know they are much more grown up and capable than I was at their ages so I really am happy, but (there is always a but somewhere) I have decided they are not grown up in every way and here is how I know!
* At church today they both saw me eating a lifesaver and out came both hands. They wanted some too. Just like when they were little and I had some yummy looking treat. Then they both gave me the empty wrappers to put in my pocket, just like when they were little. I think you cannot be considered grown up until you consistently deal with your own trash!
* They do not hesitate to ask for money at any time. "Mom, I'm going to the movies do you have some money?" "Mom I am hungry do you have some money?" "Mom I need __________ do you have some money:" You can fill in the blank, it varies from occasion to occasion. It might be a pencil, it might be a car, it might be a tattoo, one never knows.
*They still want me to schedule medical and dental appointments. Now to Belle's defense they won't talk to her yet because she isn't 18, but Moose can and should do this for himself! He won't call, he calls me at work and asks me to do it. It makes more sense for him to do it himself because he knows his schedule, but no, he calls me.
* I think they still believe that Peter Pan and I are mind readers. They neglect to tell us many things and then defend it with "I thought you knew that." This leads to various problems with scheduling and finances. It stems from that time in their lives when we were just really perceptive and they were too little to know that. Now we are supposed to know that the parking pass money is due tomorrow, summer session starts on a certain day, the car needs more gas, the milk is gone or any other trivial thing that is occuring. Usually it is easily dealt with (aside from some minor inconvenience, like going to Wal-Mart at 11 PM to gummy bears and tooth picks for school) but occasionally there are some significant problems when this happens.
Of course it is a bittersweet thing, growing up. You want your child to grow up and move on to their own life, but at the same time you miss those sweet babies you brought home. I couldn't be prouder of my children and yet I can see that they aren't quite grown up yet. To be truthful, I am a little glad even though it sounds like I am not. I will miss being a "Mommy" even though I will never stop being their Mom.
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