10 years ago I was getting ready to become a mom. 10 YEARS ago. Officially my due date was January 9th, but that went out that window, and a rough 10 days later, H was born by c-section. So in 9 days he will be 10. This is prompting reflection on my part as I feel like the time has gone by in about 30 seconds and my brain must need to process the big 1-0. However changes are happening around here, and I can't deny that we have a pre-teen in the house anymore.
1. Hair. H used to have hair like Howie, almost militant in it's shortness, gelled till it was crispy, and a haircut every 3-4 weeks. If you paid attention to the current Christmas picture, you can see that now it hangs in his eyes and over his ears. His idea, not Howie's. We feel strongly about picking our battles, and especially given Howie's prior fashion choices ( two earrings, anyone ?), let H grow his hair out. His grandma loves it, Howie tolerates it, I think it makes him look old.
2. Shoes. I had to buy him mens shoes. Size 7.5 Wide. These are one and a half sizes bigger than mine and just 1/2 size short of his grandpas. They are also extremely hard to find. Nike and New Balance must think boys jump over this size on their way to paying $150 dollars for tennis shoes. Fortunately this limits the great tennis shoe debate, because he only has the choice of picking from the one pair Kohls had in his size.( We paid 47.99 on sale, by the way, I used the money I saved on haircuts).
3. IPODS. Who buys their kid a $300 IPOD? Apparently some parents whose kids ride the bus with mine. So of course H wants one. I refuse to shell out that kind of money, even for birthdays or christmas. H has a track record for loosing hats, coats, lunchs, pencils, book reports..you get the picture. No way was I paying for an IPOD.
Howie got one for Christmas, which means I inherited his Nano ( I also lose things, to be fair, so I won't buy a nice one for myself, either ). So I had an old IPOD Shuffle that I thought was broken. Lo an behold, I fixed it ( umm, I mean, I CHARGED it.) and it works. So H inherited that one with the ground rules that it doesn't go on the bus or to school and we OK any song on it. I downloaded it with some of his favorites like the Ohio State fight song, We Will Rock You, that "Bad Day" song they played on American Idol ad nauseum but is now on some football commercial he likes. We vetoed Eminem, Soulja Boy, Kanye West. This is a great opportunity to brainwash your children and guide their preferences while we still have a chance. On went the Beatles, Bare Naked Ladies, U2, REM, ABBA, Manhatten Transfer, Maroon 5, The Dixie Chicks, Tom Petty, Johnny Cash, and no, no Nirvana. I'm trying to get him to understand that not all music originated from Guitar Hero. M is convinced that Wolfmother ripped off the song "Woman" from Guitar Hero.
4. Deodorant. Until I volunteered in the school, I didn't realize that at about 4th grade, kids start smelling funky. Not like outright B.O., just funky. I swore that this would never be my kids. Guess what? Yesterday I picked up the boys for a field trip, and H had been out side in 50 plus degree weather playing soccer. Funk? You bet. So we made a trip to Target just to pick out deodorant. I don't think they make Teen Spirit any more. He and Howie picked out some nice smelling Degree.
This was a big deal this morning, putting on deoderant for the first time. So much so that he forgot his lunch.
Happy 10th Birthday.
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I guess I should have warned you about how the big 1-0 feels. I had a really hard time too. My E also has started wearing deodorant and I also had the fun time of going bra shopping (about a year now). She is in a women's 8 wide shoe(I was a size 10w by age 11). Oh--and remember --Hispanics go through puberty earlier so I am also getting to do all that!
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