Growing Up

Much to my disliking, our little boy is growing up! And much too fast, if you ask me!!

A few days ago he came home from school with this....

Maybe its just me, but I think he looks SO grown up in this picture!

And then a few days later, he came running off the bus and said, "Look mom.....my friend said it is about to come out!" He was pointing to his top left tooth that he had twisted backwards and was barely hanging there. I took one little tug and it came right out and then all of a sudden we had this....

This is his 4th tooth to loose, but the first one on the top. It left such a huge gap that it drastically changes his appearance (hint: welcome to the awkward years)! But I think he looks adorable.... holes in his mouth and all :)

Lastly, to top things off, last night he did something he has never done before. A rite of passage if you will............he had his first sleepover! A good friend was having a campout themed birthday and the plan was for the boys to sleep in tents in the backyard. As soon as he saw the invitation, he adamantly said he was NOT going to spend the night, much less sleep in a tent! Those are two things he had yet to experience and he wasn't about to do it without Craig or me there!! I decided to pack his sleeping bag and pajamas just in case he changed his mind.

Last night on the way to the party, he kept saying, "Are you really leaving me here? Will you please come back and get me after cake?" He even teared up when we first arrived at the party at the thought of me leaving him (Can you say momma's boy?) Please keep in mind that these are very good friends of ours and he has been to their house before!!! I assured him that he would be fine and that he was the oldest kid there so he needed to be brave. About 2 hours after I dropped him off, I got a phone call saying that he had decided on his own that he wanted to spend the night! He was having so much fun that I guess maybe he felt like if he left, he would miss out. I was a little reluctant just because I didn't want to get a middle of the night phone call to come pick him up; especially since we had a 9:00 soccer game this morning!! But I decided to let him try it and see what happened. Well, the phone never rang and he did GREAT! Not only did he sleep all night, he slept outside in the backyard with all the boys. Yea Jacob!!!!

As happy as I am for him to have all these experiences (no really, I AM!) I am also sad that these childhood years seem to be flying by. Each year seems to go faster than the previous one. I hope this blog helps us to preserve these precious memories and milestones for the years to come because no matter what I do to try and stop it...........my babies are growing up! sniff sniff