Post by slt on Apr 14, 2008 8:02:27 GMT -5
I think the one thing we all agree on is that we care deeply about our kids. I have not written any columns in a full month because school district events have been so disturbing. So, here's what I sent in this morning for my next Beacon Valley Voices column.
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It’s astounding how quickly time goes by. On April 26,1990 my first child was born. I remember this as if it were yesterday and yet she is now turning eighteen. How did this happen?
Jessica was born at Mercy Center five days after her due date. My husband and I had very little experience with babies so everything was new – changing diapers, baby baths, nail trims, changing the clothes of such a small person. We had trouble figuring out the car seat the first time we used it, to go home from the hospital.
She soon grew from a baby who needed to be held for full days of waking hours to a smiling and rolling, then crawling, then walking child at her eleven month birthday. Once she started talking she had so many cute and funny things to say. Shortly after her second birthday Kathy was born and Jessica gave up her only child status to reign as the oldest instead. Upon looking at photos of herself as a baby, she’d proclaim “look, there’s me when I used to be Kathy!” When she was two a neighbor boy came by and gave her a ride around our cul-de-sac in his motorized car. It was surprising that she was picked up by a boy in a car at such an early age!
Jessica was a social being from the start. Anyone could hold her. She made friends everywhere she went. I would joke that she made friends on every trip to McDonald’s or the playground. At age three when she was bored spending a couple days a week in home daycare, we moved her into a daycare center where there was a whole room full of friends for her to play with. There she met Eric, and from age three until sixth grade these two had major plans for a future together.
As scary as it was for us to put her on a bus at age five to head off to school several miles away, to her the ride was just another chance to meet new friends and some extra time to spend with them. Unlike some clingy other children in our household, this one loved going to activities and never had trouble letting go of mom. She did ballet and swimming, Sunday School and Bible School, church choir and Pioneer Club, gymnastics and Brownies, cheerleading and ice skating, acting, singing, dancing, viola and piano all by the age of ten. She grew up with a teddy bear and a few pets – a dog, cats, fish, and frogs.
Her confidence and security were deeply shaken when we moved into a different neighborhood just after her tenth birthday. This was an emotional time of dealing with the loss of the home she’d known for six years and the friends she’d seen daily but now saw only occasionally. Though now she still considers this one of the most painful events of her life, it would be hard to want to go back and undo it because it led her to where she is today.
In middle school she again thrived socially. She played softball one summer, and then couldn’t the next due to a broken wrist. She continued on with scouts and school and church activities. She became interested in pursuing a career in fashion design and drew beautiful pictures of clothing and began taking clothing courses.
High school brought additional new opportunities. Jessica was very active in Student Council for a couple years and enjoyed planning events. She took four years of extremely challenging courses. Her interest shifted from fashion design to becoming a high school teacher. Model UN presented chances to make new friends and participate in interesting events while learning about the United Nations. Anime Club has been a fun weekly meeting to hang out with people similarly interested in anime. She’s currently finishing out her fourth year on Waubonsie’s badminton team where she is playing varsity for the second year and, you guessed it, she has many friends.
This is Jessica’s 11th year of Girl Scouts and she is continuing to work on her Gold Award project. This summer she’ll go on her fourth church mission trip with Wheatland Salem Church. She also will travel to Costa Rica with other WV Spanish students.
I’m grateful she began driving halfway through high school so that her busy-ness is no longer mine. Between school, work, activities, and friends she is leading quite the hectic life.
As senior year draws to a close, the group is counting down their final days of high school and talking about where everyone will be headed to in the fall. There are quite a lot of senior events to commemorate the end of their high school years.
This young woman has continued to surpass the hopes and dreams her parents have had for her from the moment we found out we were having a baby. I look forward to seeing what her future will bring. I am so proud of her.
I can hardly believe that my little baby girl is becoming an adult. That she is turning eighteen and graduating from high school. This all went by much too quickly. What I wouldn’t give to be rocking that tiny girl again, even if was the middle of the night, even if she was crying.
------------
It’s astounding how quickly time goes by. On April 26,1990 my first child was born. I remember this as if it were yesterday and yet she is now turning eighteen. How did this happen?
Jessica was born at Mercy Center five days after her due date. My husband and I had very little experience with babies so everything was new – changing diapers, baby baths, nail trims, changing the clothes of such a small person. We had trouble figuring out the car seat the first time we used it, to go home from the hospital.
She soon grew from a baby who needed to be held for full days of waking hours to a smiling and rolling, then crawling, then walking child at her eleven month birthday. Once she started talking she had so many cute and funny things to say. Shortly after her second birthday Kathy was born and Jessica gave up her only child status to reign as the oldest instead. Upon looking at photos of herself as a baby, she’d proclaim “look, there’s me when I used to be Kathy!” When she was two a neighbor boy came by and gave her a ride around our cul-de-sac in his motorized car. It was surprising that she was picked up by a boy in a car at such an early age!
Jessica was a social being from the start. Anyone could hold her. She made friends everywhere she went. I would joke that she made friends on every trip to McDonald’s or the playground. At age three when she was bored spending a couple days a week in home daycare, we moved her into a daycare center where there was a whole room full of friends for her to play with. There she met Eric, and from age three until sixth grade these two had major plans for a future together.
As scary as it was for us to put her on a bus at age five to head off to school several miles away, to her the ride was just another chance to meet new friends and some extra time to spend with them. Unlike some clingy other children in our household, this one loved going to activities and never had trouble letting go of mom. She did ballet and swimming, Sunday School and Bible School, church choir and Pioneer Club, gymnastics and Brownies, cheerleading and ice skating, acting, singing, dancing, viola and piano all by the age of ten. She grew up with a teddy bear and a few pets – a dog, cats, fish, and frogs.
Her confidence and security were deeply shaken when we moved into a different neighborhood just after her tenth birthday. This was an emotional time of dealing with the loss of the home she’d known for six years and the friends she’d seen daily but now saw only occasionally. Though now she still considers this one of the most painful events of her life, it would be hard to want to go back and undo it because it led her to where she is today.
In middle school she again thrived socially. She played softball one summer, and then couldn’t the next due to a broken wrist. She continued on with scouts and school and church activities. She became interested in pursuing a career in fashion design and drew beautiful pictures of clothing and began taking clothing courses.
High school brought additional new opportunities. Jessica was very active in Student Council for a couple years and enjoyed planning events. She took four years of extremely challenging courses. Her interest shifted from fashion design to becoming a high school teacher. Model UN presented chances to make new friends and participate in interesting events while learning about the United Nations. Anime Club has been a fun weekly meeting to hang out with people similarly interested in anime. She’s currently finishing out her fourth year on Waubonsie’s badminton team where she is playing varsity for the second year and, you guessed it, she has many friends.
This is Jessica’s 11th year of Girl Scouts and she is continuing to work on her Gold Award project. This summer she’ll go on her fourth church mission trip with Wheatland Salem Church. She also will travel to Costa Rica with other WV Spanish students.
I’m grateful she began driving halfway through high school so that her busy-ness is no longer mine. Between school, work, activities, and friends she is leading quite the hectic life.
As senior year draws to a close, the group is counting down their final days of high school and talking about where everyone will be headed to in the fall. There are quite a lot of senior events to commemorate the end of their high school years.
This young woman has continued to surpass the hopes and dreams her parents have had for her from the moment we found out we were having a baby. I look forward to seeing what her future will bring. I am so proud of her.
I can hardly believe that my little baby girl is becoming an adult. That she is turning eighteen and graduating from high school. This all went by much too quickly. What I wouldn’t give to be rocking that tiny girl again, even if was the middle of the night, even if she was crying.