The fun around here continued all week with the kids playing outside, riding their bikes, their scooters, playing with their friends and just having a good ol' time like kids should have.
I am beyond thrilled that Kelton, my self proclaimed "inside kid", is asking (and at times begging) to go outside to play. He is getting fresh air and exercise, working on his social skills, his balance and coordination and, most importantly, laughing and having fun. Witnessing his personal growth in a one week time span has been incredible. I am so very proud of this amazing child, this human being that I created from scratch. I look at him sometimes and I just can't believe that such an incredible miracle came from me. And every day I am watching him grow and change and change and grow.
And Kaylen. My little speed demon. Afraid of nothing, tough as nails some times and gentle as a baby rabbit at others. While her metamorphosis this week hasn't been as gigantic as her brothers, when I look back over the past year I see a child who has gone from a shy, unsure preschooler with serious issues to a bold, beautiful and amazing (almost) first grader. I decided that I would break the news to the kids about not knowing who their teachers will be until they get ready to go back to school and do you know how my daughter reacted? "That's ok, Mom. I know they will give me a good teacher. I'm not scared anymore. It will be fine."
It will be fine.
I stood in a stunned, grateful silence as I let her words bounce around my head. I did that for her. I gave her the time, the patience, the understanding and the tools to go from the mess she was back in September to this self-assured child who is taking on the world. Those long days when I would sit in her classroom, and then moved to sitting in various areas of the school for hours and hours.....all the tears I cried as I watched my beautiful child struggle with demons that threatened to pull her under...all of it has paid off in spades. She has come out the other side strong and sure of herself. She has learned to make friends (evidenced this week with a new neighbor girl) and to not loose herself in the process (I could take lessons from her). She doesn't take guff from anyone. She no longer even needs her brother to sit with her on the bus or meet her at her classroom to walk her to the bus after school. She does it all on her own, thankyouverymuch.
With all the growing and changing these two are doing before my very eyes this year, I feel that in order to keep up with them, I need to lace up my running shoes. Has it always been like this? Have the changes made in a single year always been so dramatic? I know they have changed steadily over time but has it always been so dramatic? I suppose.....probably.....but I must have been so caught up in "just getting through" the every day that I never really stopped to see it.
I see it now. Oh how I see it now. These two individual people that are here because of me growing them from nothing to something are the most amazing things I have ever done in my life. They are the best gifts that could have been given to me and I am so blessed to have them.
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