I was making a Staples run to pick up the tickets for my upcoming Kiss Cancer Goodbye event when they made their request. My boys wanted a stapler, some Wite-Out and some modeling clay. I didn’t ask questions. I figured that my sons had some sort of school project. Besides, I was in a hurry, so I dashed out the door with my list and bought what they’d asked for.
The stapler wound up on Chris’ desk after he used it to staple together a social studies project.
The Wite-Out went into Nick’s backpack for future use. It had been on his school supply list in September, but we forgot to buy it.
The modeling clay, though, ended up in a pile of green “worms” on Nick’s dresser.
“Is this for school?” I asked.
“No,” he said.
“You just wanted clay so you could make a model of what appears to be Medusa’s hair and leave it lying around?” I asked.
“Yep,” he replied, shrugging.
Yep.
I know from years of parenting experience involving Play-Doh management that Medusa’s wig will either sit there until Nick decides to make it into something else or until it dries out and starts to either:
a. smell bad
b. crumble apart, leaving little bits of clay all over the place
c. all of the above
I was going to tell him that, when a feeling suddenly came over me: I’m gonna miss him when he leaves home. I’m going to miss them both. Though I won’t have an empty nest until 2016, I’m already certain that I will miss having my kids around the house, because I love their spontaneous creative urges, even if they make a mess.
Whether it’s adding a little something to Santa’s outfit…
…sponsoring the first ever Worm Races…
…or whatever this was:
I love not knowing for sure what I’ll find next in and around my house. Even the messy stuff. Even the crazy stuff. Even the stuff that darn near kills the vacuum.
A friend of mine has a theory that adults love kids who are around the age of their favorite childhood age. Did you love kindergarten? Maybe you prefer to hang out with five-year-olds. Me? I loved the tween years, when we had a little independence but still needed our parents. The ages right before puberty came along and ruined it all.
So, I’m going to leave Medusa’s clay wig right where I found it, because I can’t wait to see what’s next. After all, I have just a few more years to enjoy it.
I can understand your point here. Last night, my sister and I took the kids to a local mall to go trick-or-treating. My nine year old (he will be 10 in January) insisted he was too old to go trick-or-treating or was mad at me for making him go. I am one of those moms that gets all teary-eyed when I realize my boys are growing up. I still have my 14 month old, and it will be a long ways before he tells me to go away and that I am embarassing sometimes, but I can’t help wanting those years back. They grow up too fast. In 8 to 9 years, my almost 10 year old will be away at college and then the baby will be older and not really want me around either. I’ll actually have a life of my own, and as appealing as that sounds, it makes me sad.
This is a great post. What a wonderful reminder to slow down and enjoy children around you. I work with elementary schoolers who can be overwhelming at times but mostly just hilarious and spontaneous. Thanks for the post.
I so hear you on this. My 13 yo is on the brink–one minute playing school with her little sister and decorating the front of our house with that cob-web stuff and the next minute locking herself in the bathroom with her new hair straightener. Sighh–I guess the makeup and fussing over hair and clothing is creative too (maybe?)
Sometimes that 10 year old gets so lost in this 43 year old body I need to wake her up – Thanks for the reminder to see the wonder not the mess.