Parent-Teacher Conferences

I'm not sure who loves parent-teacher conferences more...  me or Aden.

Last Thursday night Aden proudly escorted us to all his third grade special spots.  The classroom where he showed us how he logs in and completes his keyboarding exercises... the delightfully paint-fume-filled art room, complete with a brimming portfolio of creative work...  his freshly cleaned desk...  the gym with the cool rock wall...  the library with its special nooks featuring his favorite genre of books...  Confident and comfortable, Aden seems to be at home no matter where he is.

We reviewed all of Aden's grades and classroom details.  He is an A student who is able to read double the average word count of his peers with superior comprehension.  His favorites:  Science fiction novels and nonfiction (topic:  ANIMALS!!).  We can barely keep him in books.  He and his teacher have been recommending books back and forth to each other, and beware to anyone who dares to ask him about a book, as you will unleash a detailed, emphatic account of lengthy proportions that you will not have expected!!!

Last week Aden received an award for respect, safety and responsibility at school.  He has received this acknowledgment each year, so he is exceedingly ho-hum about it.  Of course, we are just thrilled that he is kind to others and diligent at school.

This winter Aden and I have been doing a lot of cooking and baking together, making epic messes in the kitchen.  The last couple of weeks we have made coconut cream pie from scratch with home-made crust.  Aden is awesome at rolling out the crust.  He helps brown the coconut and measures ingredients.  I took a piece of this heavenly pie to work for my boss to enjoy and he asked if he could pay Aden for a pie, so we made another one this weekend and Aden was thrilled to deliver it yesterday.  Perhaps he will be a pastry chef.

Or perhaps he will be a writer, I thought, the other day when he said this: 
"I had something I wanted to say...  It started at the back of my tongue....  Then it crept to the middle....  It was nearly at the tip so I could say it, but it slipped to the back again.  It's gone!" 


Nine years old is such an interesting age, because I look at Aden sometimes and he seems so BIG!  He is so tall, lanky and strong.  He speaks with big words, about complicated subjects.  He grasps everything that is happening around him.  He is confident and comfortable in so many different situations.  Yet, so fascinatingly, there are moments where it seems like he almost realizes how quickly he is advancing and WHOA!  A little moment creeps in where it seems that he wants to be little again with us doing things for him, or babying him just a bit.  At our best, we pause and indulge this passing moment in some nurturing way, knowing it is transitory.  At our worst, we indulge our own madness, not understanding the passing phase, not understanding why he could possibly want us to do something for him that he has been doing independently for years.

The other day I stopped and pondered the ways in which parenting requires constant change.  Caring for a 9 year old is completely different than parenting a toddler (Hallelujah!  Thankfully so!!!).  But even over a period of months, advancements are made, and suddenly the child before me is new and different than he was before.  But then, so am I, as his mother.