Sometimes There is Just No Pleasing a Mother...

My dumplings are growing up ...way too fast, I might add! Rayna has two more teeth about to fall out...that would make her minus FIVE teeth all at once! However, I did notice her first permanent tooth breaking the surface a few days ago...which is good(!), poor child NEEDS at least one tooth up front to bite her food with(!), BUT...it is kind of a sad sight to see a PERMANENT tooth in your BABY'S mouth.

Meanwhile, my oldest is taking her ACT test this morning. She and her daddy left the house at 7 am this morning to catch a father-daughter breakfast before he dropped her off for her ACT testing. (These days, any seventh grader who has scored over the 95 percentile in the school's standardized testing is invited to take the ACT early.) Darcy wasn't terribly interested in testing early, until she learned that it can open doors of opportunity...specifically, the foreign exchange program. Hearing THAT fact instantly changed her entire opinion on the matter. .......hmmm, that is another thought...my first-born could, in the not so distant future, be jetting off to a distant country to spend a semester or year going to school. That thought causes more than a little parental anxiety. But, remembering how much I wanted to do that when I was a kid is enough to get me to grit my teeth now and start getting used to the idea. I suspect she will have an uphill battle convincing her daddy, though!

I guess I am never content... here I mourn the girls, both hurtling towards adulthood and independence way faster than I would like, yet in the very same moment, I pull my hair out in frustration that my son is not maturing as quickly as I would like. He is such a happy-go-lucky guy...and in so many ways, he isn't much older now, than he was three years ago when he first came home to us. Sometimes I look at my dear son and sigh, thinking that at the current rate he will still be just as firmly, happily, planted in our nest twenty years from now as he is today. Which just goes to show you, a mother is never content! When my children are eagerly perched on the edge of the nest confidently flapping their oh so novice wings, my heart is half a second from yanking them right back into the middle of the nest where they belong! Meanwhile, my one child that is more than happy to remain right smack in the middle of the nest, has me pulling my feathers out in frustration! No wonder my children get exasperated with me!