Do it again Mama! Do it again!

There is nothing more joyous about having children than when you set their eyes alight with wonder. Like when they are infants and you play peek a boo and they giggle and laugh to see you disappear and then appear. Just that simple act of play.
Then when they are one and you show them how to blow into a straw instead of sucking and you make bubbles overflow and chocolate milk bubbles go all over the table.
When children shout "Do it again Mama! Do it again! all kinds of pride and love and zeal for the simple joys of life bubble up inside our hearts and then we want to show them more and more and more.

When a child becomes a middle schooler they become jaded and the world only revolves around themselves and their raging prepubescent hormones and middle school is a war zone of obnoxious cliques and social stereotypical tiers of a tweenie kingdom. Nothing lights up their eyes unless they get something they covet to make themselves feel "cool" even if only in their head.

Then they become teens and they no longer want to do ANYthing associate with kiddie fun.

Unless you bust them doing something they really miss doing like taking the couch pillows and race down the stairs like they are tobaggans.
Or when you see their gleeful face as they scoop up sand at the beach to make the "little cousins" happy by making them a sand castle.

So this past Sunday I had the most joyous little dejavu moment with my son when Saturday grocery shopping had him begging for storebought pastries. You know the kind. They look so pretty with their glazed icing and their jelly filled centers. When you eat them tho they somehow taste of their cardboard home? I said that I thought they were a waste and did he really want to pay $4.99 for cardboard sugar. He really really did. I said "But I know how to make REAL cinnamon rolls, why should you eat these?" and he said "YOU DOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO???" and I said "Yes , have I never made you any?" and then I realized; Oh my God, I havent made so many food things that bring joy to families that my Mom used to make us. Life is such a hurly burly rush and all about nonfat and sugar free and eat healthy that I make salad and veggie and protein meals and no FUN food! No sugar laden gooey treats. Like . Like. Like popcorn balls.
My mom always made popcorn balls!!! Or Rice cripy treats or any of that stuff.

So I got the ingrediants that very day and Sunday woke up and made cinnamon rolls.

He watched that pan of rolls rising like a hawk, kept lifting the towel to peek. Giggled when I slapped his hand from trying to get a finger of cinnamon butter. It was GLEEFUL!

His eyes lit up when I turned over the pan and showed off the bottom that was now the top of brown sugar/butter topping and he ate 4 right in one sitting. FOUR!

My heart is STILL swelled up with the joy of that Sunday morning wonderous time. His eyes were saying "Do it again Mama! Do it again!"

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And that afternoon in infectious joy he called me to come learn how to play Rock Band. Oh my Oh my I LOVE ROCK BAND. I sing like a horror chic and my character is a bad ass and I am having so much fun with our band touring and singing. I can drum and sing but am a miserable embarrassment on guitar.
But my heart is so full and I am enjoying every single moment with my son as he trudges the line between being a cool teen and letting some family fun capture his heart.

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Ok I need some advice: he wants to go back "out" with the girlfriend we dont approve of. Talking and texting like a fiend. We have cojoled, explained, pleaded, and now last night his dad blew up. He asked to go to the movie with "friends" and we said "what friends" and he shrugged "you know, just some friends" and then we demanded WHO? and he named the girl and HER friends. His dad blew up and was saying "why do you insist to hang around this bad girl yadda yadda yadda" and the conversation grew long and HIS CELL PHONE RANG and we all looked at the clock and it was midnight and it was this particular girl.
WHAT GOOD GIRL CALLS A BOY AT MIDNIGHT???
That is 13 yrs old?
So his Dad went ballistic and said he could NEVER go to the movies if she was any where NEAR the theatre and on and on.
Now: I KNOW that is not the right tactic: Demanding no contact since she is aggressive and will sneak, she has before.
But HOW how how do we make him see she is BAD news?
ugh!!! ANy suggestions from your past experience?????

10 Questions

I'm full of it today:

1. Is it me or is Paula Abdul looking younger and younger with every episode of American Idol?

2. Is it me or is it not getting harder and harder to cook full on meals every night? Cooking healthy has taken the wind out of my cooking imagination. I hate cooking now and I find myself making the same 3 chicken dishes. How can I stop making fast dinners when I m starving and so tired?

3. Is it me or are teen girls not bigger chested now than back when I was their age?

4. I have no predjudice in my soul about sexual orientation so this next question is very open hearted and honest. I have noticed that my son has many bisexual friends. Mostly girls. What is that all about? If you go to his MySpace list of friends and read their orientation, the majority list "Bi". I say its a stance, a stance for leaving all the options open. But my son is confused and asks me questions. His own gf says she doesnt care who knows it; shes 'bi' and likes it. Dont you think this is just faze? A "liberation" stance if you will; or do you think there can be THIS many bisexual teenagers? Is bisexual like 'swinging'? A recreational fun choice for now?

5. Is it just me or is it getting harder and harder to parent?

6. Is it just me or is there more and more homework being given every year? I'm beginning to be against homework, summer schooling to get that extra credit or two and all this pressure to BE "AP" or "IB" or whatever is the latest hardest and most impressive. What happened to the old fashioned quest for learning? LEARNING, not just high scores. Showy course loads? For having a kid be a dang kid? My good friends son is in 10th grade and so freaked and stressed right now that I actually butted in and talked to the mom about how stressed their son is with his work load. ummmmmmmm, now THAT relationship is strained and I am so not appreciated now. They feel their kid SHOULD be this pressured to get into Harvard as straight A student in IB courses. I say OMG your kid looks like he's 40 and needs to have some Prozac. HE IS 15 YEARS OLD for cripes sake. Does anyone remember what it was like to be a kid? To be facing a long lazy summer filled with popsicles and lazing around in shorts? Not planning the itinerary for the summer course load and a new college course being offered high schoolers to get ahead on college credits...........WTF? What happened to just waiting for all this stress when we are 30 and have 2.5 kids a dog and a minivan, why the stress at 14,15,16? What will their life be at 30?

7. Is it me or is time going way way too fast?

8. Does anyone else with teens missing sitting on the couch with a good Disney Movie back when their kid was little. I think this is my most missed part of being a mommy of a little tot besides the lap holding.

9. Is it just me that doesnt like the new earing style? I dont want my son to get his ears stretched. How can I tell him it makes me kinda gag to think of him visiting me when he's 45 and he has big holes floppin around in his ears?

10. Is it just me or is this Presidential race already getting on your nerves too?

Sunday

Today was such a PERFECT day! One of which I have not had in a loooooong time!
My son broke up with his girlfriend once and for all. She was a cheating skank, spoiled princess, brat and conniving and obnoxiously rude to me. She was controling, jealous and a sneak. Oh and did you catch on that I didnt approve? She was also predjudiced and a pretentious snob. I dislike all of the above in a person so I have had a hard 7 months dealing with the fact that my son chose to like this person. Of course he didnt see it at all or if he did he chose to ignore it. She cheated on him and he broke up with her last night. He already has girls waiting for this opportunity and is going to another ska concert tonight and meeting one of those little girls in the wings there!!! I am relieved and happy today.
Today was the towns flea market. My son and I go every year. It is "our' thing. My husband detests them. Therefore it was a carefree day digging through cool stuff other people didnt want. I scored some cool stuff and so did my son!!
We finally went to this antiques yard I've wanted to go to for 3 years and I took my son down nostalgia lane with me, everything was either from my parents age or my age. No real ancient antiques, it was cool how facinated he was with everything and how much I forgot, like fabric wrapped cords with their huge ends. There was an old Coke cooler like the stores and gasoline stations had outside and an old lunch box JUST like the one I had, he was just facinated with it all and I had fun showing him stuff.
Perfect perfect day!
Now I take him to his ska concert and my husband and I are meeting for dinner!
I am feeling better too, my antibiotics are kicking in. I had an ear infection and bronchitis...the flu gone bad.
Also...............we managed to suprise the freakin pants of my son on Friday with a suprise birthday party at his favorite sushi restaraunt and 23 kids showed up and yelled suprise when my husband brought him, it was the crowning shining moment of motherhood when I had a gleeful joyous moment watching him during his birthday lunch.
Also, final thing crowning today? My house is clean, my laundry washed AND put away and my life is enjoying a turn for the better, ummmmmmmm I mean; the smoother.