The kids are officially done with school as of this past Thursday afternoon. I now have TWO middle-schoolers in the house. How on earth has time passed so quickly? I still remember cuddling with a 2 month old CootieGirl, or driving around in the car all night to get CootieBoy to sleep in his carseat because he hated the crib. Surely that was just yesterday???
Alas, it wasn’t. And so instead I have an about-to-start 7th grade daughter. I’ve decided she’s allowed to get a cellphone now. She did really well with becoming more responsible over the past year – she’s leaps and bounds ahead of where she was at the beginning of the school year. When she messes up, she takes ownership and accepts her punishment. While her hormones do get the better of her sometimes, she is quick to apologize when she calms down and is able to talk it out after that. She did struggle with school a bit in the third quarter and beginning of the fourth quarter, but her year-end cumulative average was a solid B, which is quite an accomplishment. I’m so proud of her and how far she’s come as a sixth grader. At the beginning of the year she had a couple troubling instances in which she was sent to in-school suspension. They were infractions for which she did not get in trouble in elementary school, and so it was a hard adjustment to realize they had higher expectations in middle school. But once she got that out of her system and realized the new rules she’d have to play by, she did great. In fact, at the end of the school year she was one of only 6 students to win a special good behavior award, as nominated by her teachers. That’s a testament to how far she has come this year. And she’s thrilled that she will finally have a phone – especially considering the fact that most of her friends have had phones since the 3rd grade. She’s not getting a brand new phone – in the end we decided that she can have MY phone (Samsung Galaxy S4) and I would get a new one. She was totally fine with that option. With any luck by next week I’ll be able to take a picture of her with her “new” phone in her hot little hands.
As for CootieBoy, he also had a great year. At the beginning of the school year I told him that if he ended the year with an A average, he could have a new game console (we hardly ever use the Wii anymore except to play Just Dance). He chose a PS3 so he could play on the network with one of his school pals. And with that decision made, he got to work. Sure enough, he ended the year with four year-end cumulative As in his core classes. And so he is now the proud owner of a PS3 and several games to get his inevitable game collection started. He’s in the other room now learning how to play “Kingdom Hearts.”
And so we look towards next year. 6th grade for him, 7th grade for her. I’m fearful that I’m going to wake up tomorrow morning and discover that she’s attending college and he’s preparing to graduate from high school or something. Time is surely passing by too quickly.