Monday, March 21, 2011

It's todayit's todayit's today! Now what?

It's finally here..the day I've been waiting for; the day my son starts to GROW UP (why don't you just grow up?); the day when I can turn him loose and say "Fly, kiddo" and not be held accountable for the consequences.

My, how those words now haunt me.

He's always been a child that requires way more help and supervision, especially when it comes to school related stuff.  I've spent countless afternoon hours hovering over him with papers and textbooks, walking him through metric conversions, diagramming sentences and explaining everything REPEATEDLY.  And to think I used to love school.  Gack!

Next month is the FWCS Science Fair and, as with any major-grade project, I'm freaking out.  He, on the other hand, is all fired up and brimming with ideas about how his display should look.  Great, you may be saying to yourself.  No, not great.  I've viewed him for 12 years as my baby, watched him achieve so much in spite of ADHD, been in the trenches day in and day out with classwork and teachers who either didn't get it or didn't care and have been on the frontlines of constantly defending his right to be the way he is to ignorant fools who have no understanding of him or ADHD and NOW he says "I can handle it, Mom"?  What, all by yourself?  Don't you need me?  Don't I get a vote here?  Apparently, not.

This afternoon, the two of us spent 45 minutes working together on the science fair project-him firing off ideas and me furiously typing away.  By the way, 45 minutes is HUGE in Seth-time.  I spent the remainder of the hour apologizing for treating him like a baby and explaining that Mom knows he doesn't need her as much (say it ain't so, but I guess this means I am doing my job) and how hard it is for Mom to start letting go.  He put his arms around me for a big hug and said "It's okay, Mom I'll always be your baby".  My heart melted, the tears flowed (my nose ran) and then he said "Now move over so I  can do the typing".

2 comments:

  1. He is some handsome boy. You've done a great job and you will be proud of him always. All mothers put tons of work into their children and that as it should be. I have a grandson with ADHD too. Thanks for sharing.
    Fondly, Etty

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  2. Oops, I did it again! Something tells me this "backing off" stuff is not going to be easy...lucky for me, he seems WAY more patient than usual!
    -Stephanie

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