Reflections on My 8th Grader, Vol. 3

Five years ago, when my eldest child started 8th grade, her lovely teacher sent an email to all the parents asking them to write a few paragraphs with any information that would help her better understand her students.  I loved the idea of writing about my gal, so I got to work (you can read about my eldest here).  When my second child was in 8th grade, I decided to do the same thing for him (you can read what I wrote about him here).  And now, you guessed it - by some freakishly fast passage of time, my third child is about to graduate from 8th grade, so I want to reflect a bit about him now.  Below, you'll find a few thoughts about our monkey in the middle.

Our sweet son was born 9 weeks early, almost two months to the date before his due date.  It was a tumultuous time (you can read about his birth here) for our family, but we were overjoyed at his arrival.  After 7 weeks in the NICU, we were able to bring our baby home to his big brother and sister.  His first year of life was challenging, but he was a fighter and he pulled through all the challenges. 

Isaac's name means laughter, and we couldn't have picked a better name for this child.  He is almost always happy and laughing, joking or smiling.  He is friends with everyone, and recently I've really noticed how good he is with younger kids. He loves life and has always had scads of interests spanning cooking to learning a language to every sport imaginable.  He is always fun to be around and makes me smile all the time (even during these challenging middle school years).

When he was little, he LOVED my hair.  He was obsessed with it.  He loved his own hair too, and if mine wasn't available, he would twirl his own hair whenever he could.  But he loved mine the most and would happily twirl and twist it as long as I would let him.  It was his security blanket, and I was a little sorry when he outgrew it.  I offer my hair to him now and then (don't judge me) but alas, he is not interested. :(  You can read about his love of hair here and here).

This boy loves any and all sports.  His second birthday party theme was all about sports, because the boy loved to play ball.  Currently he's mostly into basketball and lacrosse, but since he could walk, he's loved them all -- soccer, gymnastics, skiing, snowboarding, tennis, swimming, baseball, tubing, track and cross country. We have loved how active he has always been, and that he's ready to try anything new anytime. 

Isaac is resilient.  He's been through a lot over the course of his nearly fifteen years, and he always faces each challenge with a smile and a can-do attitude.  He inspires me with his positive attitude, and I am so thankful that God graced him with such a go-with-the-flow personality. He loves hospitals and hospital beds and hospital food, and is always up for a hospital stay! He makes the nurses and doctors smile whenever he interacts with them.

He wants to be a nurse when he grows up.  He has been so touched and supported by nurses that he wants to become one and work in a pediatric hospital.  I think he'd be a wonderful nurse (or pastor or youth church worker!) and I hope he continues to pursue a passion with children or people in general.  If he doesn't become a nurse, his other option is the MLL (Major League Lacrosse).  He's nothing if not optimistic!

I'm having a hard time imagining him leaving our grade school and moving onto high school.  I so love seeing him in the hallway with the friends he's known since he was in preschool (or earlier in some cases!).  It's inconceivable (I hope you heard that in your best Princess Bride impression) that the time has come for him to leave and move on, but come it has.  And he's ready.  It's bittersweet for him and he'll miss his class very much, but he's ready for the next step.  And since he's ready, I must be too.  He'll love his four years in high school I have no doubt, and I'll quickly love those years with him too.

Over the last fifteen years, this boy has continued to amaze and inspire me.  His ever-present smile, even during adversity, always warms my heart. God has already blessed him mightily, and I am looking forward to see what He has planned for him next.  I know it'll be good.

Throwback, Cooking Style

When I graduated from college, my mom gave me a gift.  It was a little Longaberger basket, filled with recipes from my childhood.  She had dividers for each section, and notes on some of the recipes ("knead the dough - this is not hard", "very easy", "some people like these toppings" - referring to my rather bland pizza tastes).  The recipe box was both useful and cherished from the beginning.  Over time, I have added my tried and true recipes to my mom's, and I outgrew the little Longaberger basket.  A few Christmases ago, she gave me a bigger basket, so I transferred all of the little dividers in her handwriting, and switched over all the recipes too.  For 24 years, I have thought of her often as I made her pizza, her "famous Mrs. Cleaver's chocolate chip cookies", "baboon brownies" and other time honored dishes.

Yesterday, I set about the task of cleaning out my cookbook cabinet.  What was once oft-used and frequently added to has lately been rarely opened.  So going through this cabinet was like going down memory lane.  Among the things I found:

• Several Gooseberry Patch cookbooks, almost all from my dear best friend from college.  She dated them all and wrote in the inside cover of them all, and I recalled our visits when our kids were little, swapping recipes and making dirt pudding with our kids.  Cookbooks with handwritten notes = keepers.
• 25+ Quick Cooking magazines.  Oh, how I loved that magazine.  Each month upon its arrival, I sat down during naptime and read all the wonderful recipes and all the anecdotes about cooks around the country.  I knew they needed to be recycled, but before I could do it, I decided to flip through them all.  Oh, the memories!  I paused a moment as I leafed through the June/July 2004 copy, realizing that the last time I had probably touched those pages was days before I gave birth to our third son, 9 weeks early.  I decided to keep that one and a couple of other copies for good measure. 
• Kids Cookbooks!  My husband has always worked long hours, and when the kids were little, he was only home for an hour or two on Sundays.  Because the day felt so long to the kids and me, I instituted Kids in the Kitchen every Sunday afternoon.  Each week we would make a kid friendly recipe, and it helped make what felt like a long day a little more cheerful.  I also ran across a well worn birthday cake cookbook (given to me by my dear college friend also!).  Though I have almost no skill at baking, the kids often chose a birthday cake for me to make from its pages, and we have lots of memories of special caterpillar cakes, beach scenes, and carousel cakes (though my talented sis created that one!).  I kept most of these because I'm a preschool teacher, and also grandchildren.
• Various fundraiser cookbooks.  Man, I had forgotten how common it was to make a church cookbook and sell it as a fundraiser.  I have several from different churches my husband and I have attended over the last 40+ years, and as I thumbed through them, I smiled at all the names I recognized.  I kept a few of these since they were so full of history.
• A Bread Machine Cookbook.  Remember when bread machines were all the rage?  I still had my cookbook, with a post it inside the front cover from my mom with tips about using it.  She instructed me to buy "Bread Flour", and told me I would find it at King Soopers, the grocery store in Colorado where we shopped the first year we were married.  Sentimental post its = must be kept.
• Betty Crocker and Better Homes and Gardens Binder Cookbooks.  These were both gifts from our wedding, and one houses the Pastitsio recipe I make every year on Christmas Eve.  Wedding cookbooks must be kept.

As I was going through the books, remembering each season of life with each book, I came across a fundraiser cookbook from an organization I didn't recognize.  When I flipped open the cover, I saw my dear grandma's handwriting.  My breath caught in my throat as I read her brief inscription:  "Shelley, just relax and have fun cooking.  You do all things well.  Love, Grandma D, April 95".  My eyes welled up as I remembered her encouraging me often with those very words.  Cookbooks with handwritten notes (see above), must be kept, especially when those notes are from family members who have passed away.

I know it doesn't sound like I purged much, but honestly I did. And the books I kept will remain in my cabinets, maybe to be used for recipes, but certainly to be used as a snapshot of my life in those years. And the goal of the cookbook purging was met - I made space for some dishes I need to re-house, so it was a win-win!

I use Pinterest for almost all of my new recipes now.  Sometimes, if a recipe becomes a family favorite, I do write it on a recipe card and put it in my box.  But often I just search Pinterest for whatever type of dish I'm looking for and read it from my phone or computer.  And while I love being able to have any recipe I desire in three seconds, I think something has been lost since I've moved away from those pages in my cabinet. In fifteen years, am I going to flip through Pinterest, recalling my son's third birthday or a dear friend's visit?  Probably not.  Someday (soon!), I want to write out my recipes for my daughters when they leave home, and I hope they can treasure the family dishes the way I have been able to myself.  And maybe someday they will flip through my old cookbooks and reminisce about the way mom used to cook. 

Happy Mother's Day, preschool mammas!

Dear my preschool mammas,

Happy Mother's Day!  The school year is almost over and my time with your children is drawing to a close.  I hope and pray I will see you and your children next year, but I know that isn't always possible. I have grown to love and care for your children this year, and I will miss them!

So as the time nears for us to say goodbye, and in special honor of Mother's Day, I wanted to take a moment to tell you something.

You're doing a great job.

I have kids myself and I know that you might not always feel that way.  But I am here to assure you that you are raising fine little people.

Your children are funny.  They make me laugh every day.  They crack themselves up; big belly laughs and hysterical giggles.  They tell me jokes with punchlines only a 4-year-old could create.  And they often think I am hilarious, which may or may not be the actual truth.

Your children are good friends. They love the friends they have made this year in school.  They play together, they hug each other, they share with one another.  True, it's not always unicorns and rainbows, but when they have a disagreement with a friend, they apologize and offer forgiveness.  They truly care about the friends they have made this year.

Your children are loved.  Daily I hear stories about how Mommy took me to the playground, or Daddy loves to wrestle with me.  These are the things that they treasure - memories with you.  You love them with a fierce love, and they know it and flourish because of it. 

Your children are happy.  Ok, maybe not all the time, but for the most part, your children relish life and bounce happily into school with a smile and hug goodbye for you.  And if your children are a little sad to say goodbye, you know to give them one last kiss and hug and send them in promptly, knowing they will be fine before you make it down the hallway.

Your children are secure.  They are secure in their knowledge of your love, of who they are and their place in your family.  They feel safe, knowing Mommy and Daddy love them enormously.

Your children know Jesus.  I am always blown away by how much your children know about the Bible and their Savior.  They know how much He loves them, even when they might make choices that don't please Him.  They know He loves them so much that He died on the cross for them, and they can tell you the whole story.  You teach them about Jesus, and they, therefore, know Jesus. 

We all know just how hard motherhood is.  The daily monotony and frustrations and exhaustion can begin to wear down even the best-intentioned mamma.  But I want to remind you something:  your work is sacred.  Mothering these little people, as I have watched you do this year, is your calling.  God has called you, and only you, to be your child's mother, and God knows you are the perfect woman for the job.  On the days when the task of motherhood seems just one step further than you can manage, remember this:  God gave you these children to raise and He doesn't make mistakes.  And He is helping you every step of the way!

Soon I won't get to see your little ones every day.  But I know they have big things ahead of them.  So keep up the good work, mammas.  You're doing a great job.

Love,

Your child's teacher