Getting all growed up

As time goes by, we see more and more signs of maturity in Reed. Thinking back to when he was a preschooler and gave us a hard time every single morning when we told him he had to go to the bathroom right away ("but I don't have to go!!" followed by...well, really having to go) and lo and behold, he just takes care of such things on his own now. Not too long ago - maybe a year? - daily showers resulted in daily fights about showers. Now he (mostly) showers exactly as frequently as we want him to. Hooray! When you're in the middle of daily fighting about such mundane activities as using the bathroom and getting clean, you think that perhaps it will always be that way - what a relief to know things pass!

And both kids are really great about making their lunches each day. Which is not to say that they don't grumble about it sometimes, but in the end they go ahead and make their lunches. And they've been doing that for a while! Some kids in 4th grade with Reed are still eating lunches made by their parents. Heck, Aunt Jennifer was even still making cousin Aly's lunches for her every day, until I think the 7th grade! The kids both know what constitutes a complete lunch, and they go about putting theirs together with a minimum of fussing, most days. We still have to remind them to make the lunches, but the making is all on their own. How awesome is that!?

Both kids are pretty much completely responsible for their own schoolwork - homework and quiz/test preparations. Other parents will say "Can you believe that math homework the other night! Took us an hour to get it done!" - well, we don't even know what the homework was, much less spend time participating in it. We feel the kids' schoolwork is just that - the kids' schoolwork. If they forget to do it, it's their grade that's going to drop, not ours. Sometimes I feel guilty for not knowing more about their studies, but I would guess I know a heck of a lot more about it than my own parents knew about mine. And I turned out okay, I think. 

Reed is even getting better about cleaning toys up when we ask him to. He seems to be really growing up this 4th grade year.

And Amy, well she's always been a bit more mature than Reed at the same age - I guess that's a girl thing. She is usually eager to help out and pitch in around the house when we ask - and sometimes she offers on her own.

These kids are pretty terrific!