In Retrospect

Posted by Vulnadia on Jan 02, 2010 at 10:22 AM In retrospect, I have noticed a LOT of things about last year. Some things I could have changed, others I know now that I simply could not have, no matter how hard I tried. This past year started out in the middle of a HUGE transistion for my eldest son. He would be starting high school and he needed to get into a specific school to keep on track with his career goals. Everything seemed great. He and his best friend both easily won their spots at Magnet. They tested in together, they did placement testing together. We had piano recitals and graduation parties together. We spent the summer hanging out together, best friends and even siblings on both sides. Those were some great outings, really they were. I had as many as 8 kids all together for a fun day of movies at the boardwalk, trolley rides, searching for Nemo for the little ones. We explored the Barnwell Center together and the artwork. We walked all along the river from the Barnwell Center to the Rail Road Bridge. We did our time in the fountains at Riverview. I broke up fights between brothers that were all in fun and watched best friends be the best big brothers a little kid could have. When July came, I watched 2 boys grow up and one would stay forever 14, laid to rest by his best friends. August came and we had to start that new school alone. Well, not necessarily alone, because 2 people stepped in to make it not soo lonely anymore. It's been a new experience on several levels. I went back to high school with an old friend from high school making it almost eerily as if we had never left. We now do Piano recitals solo. Well, I have some help from my own peanut gallery, but sadly it is via text. My munchkins have grown by leaps and bounds. Kian's hair grew long, and then we went and finally got him to agree to cut it. Kai just now started deciding to speak English. We discovered that not only had he preferred tripletease, but that he had picked up more Spanish than was good for his English and had been using that all along as well expecting everyone to know what he meant. Beware of Dora & Diego & Sesame Street for that reason alone! My little people learned the art of escape, while we as parents honed our art of containment. My silverware has finally come home to rest in its rightful drawers after 2 years of floating around in different places all so I wouldn't have to punish Kai for playing with the knives again. Kai still loves trains, Vivienne has taken to her dolls and doesn't mind the large numbers that make up her orphanage. Kian made the transistion from Thomas Engineer to full blown Pirate and now wears his pirate hat EVERYWHERE and greets everyone with a resounding "Arrgghh!" or "Ahoy!" He doesn't understand why nobody else seems to know as much Gilbert & Sullivan as he does and he has made it his goal to acclimate everyone over to learning as much about those infamous Pirates of Penzance as he does. I've seen my kids grow by leaps and bounds over the past year. One child has grown in ways I could have never imagined and had hoped to be able to postpone. Happy New Year's everybody! May this year bring you the best!