Skip to main content

My "Proud" Parenting Moments

Each of my children learned something new this past week. One is silly. The other is serious. No matter how silly it is or how serious watching them figure something new out is so exciting for a Momma! I am not sure there is anything better than seeing the determination on their faces. And then they turn on you and become the expert!

The Silly Accomplishment!

My Short Chic learned to eat sunflower seeds. As you know, sunflower seeds are a must at baseball games. Fans eat them. Players eat them. I am not sure, do umpires eat them? If they do, do they eat them while umpiring?

One of the other younger sisters showed The Short Chic how to eat them and she asked for her own bag for the games this weekend.


She is already the expert at eating seeds.  She even tried to give me lessons!


Seriously, she is a boot wearin', cut-off shorts, tank top seed eatin' fool!

She might need to practice the art of spitting them out a little more! She is looking forward to the weekend as we have more games to play. Time to buy more seeds.

The Serious Accomplishment:

Getting his permit was only step 1. The Boy is learning to drive.

Tonight was my first opportunity to let him drive my car.

I am not sure who was more nervous. Him? Me? Absolutely me!

You know I do not even recall my parents teaching me to drive. Maybe I have blocked it out? I do recall a summer of drivers education. You know what I remember? The first day of class was the first day I wore my contacts out in public. Oh yeah, and the instructor would let us listen to the radio but we could not sing along.  I remember my friend Susan almost got the radio taken away because she got caught singing out loud!


It is a lot of stress teaching your children to drive. On one hand I so desperately want him to learn to drive.  Driving will bring about the opportunity to get a job.  A job will create some responsibility, and independence. But on the other hand, I absolutely do not want him learning to drive. The independence alone scares me. The risk factors for teens scare me: drinking and driving, texting and driving, making stupid silly mistakes that can create huge consequences.

It is such a double edge sword.  In the end, it is my role to prepare him for adulthood. And so I will teach him to drive. {Unless I can get my husband to do it!}



Some kids enter the legal age to drive with some knowledge about how to drive. They have either been allowed to illegally drive, or drove farm equipment around, or even have drove ATV's or dirt bikes. The Boy, has not been allowed to drive. The one time he did drive an ATV, he ran it into the side of a barn. {A very large metal barn!} He has a lot to learn.


He hugs the outer line and he pays no attention to the speed limit signs.  Oh, and my favorite, he came upon a young woman out jogging and he got distracted by her bending over that he literally took his eyes off the road too long for my liking. 


He is improving. He is doing better on his turns, he signals, he keeps both hands on the wheel.  


Now for all of you who have been down this road before me, please tell me, how did you keep your sanity? I was gripping the dashboard so tight my knuckles were white. I think I held my breath every moment he was driving!

Comments

  1. Mike taught me how to drive! If I ever do something wrong or he, Mom, or Dad scrunch their face up, I kindly remind them my dear brother taught me to drive! Good luck!!!!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

My Weekend Project: A PVC Camping Lamp Post and Flag Holder

I have seen a few of these around campsites and I knew I would like to have one. The only problem that I had is The Husband. He already thinks we drag too much stuff with us when we go camping and if I had told him my desire to have a PVC Camping Light Pole he would have shut it down quickly! So, that leaves a girl with only one choice: Figure out how to do it by herself. I did some internet searching and found a few road maps on RV forums. They seemed easy enough! I visited the local hardware store for the supplies: An exterior post lantern light 2 inch PVC pipe (I used 5 feet but had to purchase a 10 foot piece) A 3 inch toilet flange A 3 inch to 2 inch Reducer PVC Glue A 12 foot electric cord kit 2 - 3/4 inch PVC Caps I also used a few supplies we already had on hand: White Spray Paint 3 1/2 foot - 3/4 inch PVC Pipe Drill Bits (1 inch and 1/2 inch) Tent Stakes The first step was preparing the lantern light. I could only find black i

Tonsillectomy (Warning Photos!)

The Short Chic came down with a pretty nasty case of strep throat back in April. So, when The Boy started complaining about his throat hurting about 12 days later, I was pretty confident that he had inherited his sister's strep. Instead, The Boy was diagnosed with a peritonsillar abscess growing on his right tonsil.  We had to immediately see an ENT  Physician who took a needle and drained the abscess. He removed about 5.5 cc of puss from The Boys throat.and then told us that once you have a peritonsillar abscess you were high risk to keep getting them. The Boy's tonsils were now compromised and needed to be removed.  We were told to plan for a two week recovery so we worked a surgery into our summer plans. Between family vacations, summer sports, and the beginning of school The Boy had his second surgery. A tonsillectomy.  Pre-surgery prepping went well. It must be nice to be young and have healthy veins for an IV! The Boy had lots of pre-surgery visitors. My

Liver Cheese: A Family Tradition

Today is an anniversary date. One of those dates you wish you did not have to remember but there is no way you can forget.  Fifteen years ago today,two days after his birthday, my father died of lung cancer. He was a lifelong smoker and his cancer was aggressive. His battle was short. He fought for six short months after his diagnosis. He knew the chemo was not working and that his time was limited. When he came to this realization he became the best dad in the world.                                                In the days before my father's passing, my family shared some memorable moments. One of those moments centers around the deli meat: Liver Cheese.I would not be surprised if you have never heard of it, or even never tasted it. But I was raised on it as it was one of my Dad's favorite things.  What is it? Well, it is a German food that is actually called Leberkase. It is bacon, corned beef, pork, and onion that is ground together and baked. It comes with a