Parenting Milestone

Thursday we had co-op at my house, and I was in charge of the experiments.  I love it, but it is a lot of work and preparation and a pretty stressful undertaking to teach 17 kids 12 and under when each of us moms has a little baby.  (Okay, I have a big baby...)
The experiments took most of our time.  I only had a few minutes to unwind and visit a little as we cleaned up.  I was still pretty wound up when Dallin got home, so I claimed an hour with him while the kids stayed in their rooms and played.
That gave me what I needed to get through dinner and cleanup and making pumpkin sugar cookies with candy corn faces.  (I have to have these every year for some reason.)
I was bone-weary exhausted as I climbed the stairs and began to fold the clean laundry that had been in a pile on my floor for weeks.  I was expecting Dallin to come join me, but he never did.  I was a little bit grumpy about that.  Then, as I heard him coming up the stairs, he says to Nathan, "Don't you have a project due tomorrow?"

My heart sank right down into my toenails. I had gotten the email from the teacher about the "desk museum" that they were doing for end of term project.  I figured Nathan was on top of it because he's that kind of student.  I heard him talking about it after school, that he was going to build the Burj Khalifa.  It was 10:00 and he hadn't even started.  Didn't really have a plan.  I could tell Dallin was on his way to leaving Nathan at it, and I was so ready to jump into bed and finally let my body rest.

But I just couldn't leave him like that.  He wasn't asking for help, but I was thinking of how I felt under that kind of pressure.  He has been working so hard to get a 4.0, doing extra credit and checking his grades almost hourly to see if he got them up the tenths of points that he needed to.  I knew this project would be a biggie, and I wanted him to know I'm here for a reason.  How many times have my parents come to my rescue?  I remember my dad staying up late typing final drafts of papers for my sisters when they were at the end of their rope and their time limit.  There are times in life where you are backed up against a wall and you just can't do it on your own!  So I came downstairs and we got some cardboard out and started sharing ideas.  Soon Dallin joined us and we had a really great time building this creation of toilet paper rolls and tin foil and an antenna from a CD player.  Just for fun, we had a little foil Tom Cruise hanging from a thread halfway down the building.  I helped him print up some charts from Wikipedia and make a little display.  It was fun, and I don't think we've done something like that with just him for such a long time.

AND I drove him to school this morning when it was 27 degrees outside so his creation would not get damaged on the bus trip.  That was enough to get me to come right inside and turn my heater on for the first time this year.  (That's always a little sad.)

There is something so "cliche" about staying up with your child to finish a homework project, that I feel like I've gone through some sort of parenting rite of passage.

It feels good.

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