You are officially a teenager. The big ONE THREE has finally come around. I know I say it every year but it truly does feel like just moments since you came into this big world. In typical fashion, you are I want to tell you some of the things that I will always remember about you at this age:
- you were accepted into the academic excellence stream for high school and you not only kept your head above water, but finished your first year with an award for achieving five A's
- your interest in photography and film has grown and you are enjoying making material and posting it online - something that makes me so very proud
- your voice has gotten so deep. You sound like a man, not the little boy I have grown used to talking to over all these years
- you have become involved in drama at school and it fits you like a glove. You have appeared on stage a number of times now and you are fearless in your performances
- you got your first iphone. This has become a constant source of frustration, with you incessantly checking whether you've got messages or watching things on your phone when you are meant to be doing other things (like listening to your parents!)
- you are a human garbage disposal, often finishing my meals off for me
- you have size 11 feet. SIZE ELEVEN!!!
- you have devoured a wide range of cinema across a lot of genres and you enjoy discussing all the finer details
- your love of salmon sashimi STILL runs strong. It has become an expensive dining experience with you now that your appetite has doubled
- you drive your sister absolutely bonkers and appear to take great delight in doing so, but you also have a very close friendship with her
In the past thirteen years you have made this amazing transition from a tiny little baby boy to a fully fledged teenager. The sweet baby who would stare into my eyes as I fed you. Looking at me like I was your whole universe. The one who tended to your every need. The one who would comfort you through anything. The one who agonised over your wonky shaped head and other woes. The hours spent reading book after book to you each and every day, developing that love of reading that is still so strong. Lazing in the sunshine together, playing "cups (Ollie loves cups)", singing nursery rhymes and playing games together, anything to hear that beautiful belly laugh of yours. That first year was as if time stood still and we had this magical little bubble together. I am so grateful we had it.
Toddler Ollie didn't look back, tearing off into the world at a million miles a minute. You loved to dance and sing, with each week seeing us heading off to the library to get your musical and literary fix. You had to start sharing the limelight with the arrival of Eve, but you still managed to make sure the spotlight shone well and truly upon you.
School boy Ollie made so many new friends, including a number of crushes on girls along the way. But it was your relationships with your teachers that gave me the greatest joy, with you visiting your grade one teacher each day in grade two just to give her a cuddle. I was always so proud that, while you might have been lax with them sometimes at home, you always displayed beautiful manners at school.
The pre-teen years have given us a glimpse into the teenager that lays ahead, with stronger opinions and assertiveness starting to show. But you used these for good, leading your school through a difficult year and navigating an equally tricky year behind the scenes. You handled it all, demonstrating amazing character.
This year we have ridden many roller coasters. Both literally and figuratively. It has definitely been our most challenging year so far. You are very stubborn and you love a good argument. You recognise that this may have been inherited from me and we both feel like we are arguing with ourselves sometimes. It is ridiculously frustrating for both of us.
Your shoulders are no longer those of a small boy, they are those of a young man. Now that you are stronger than me, my threats of placing you in time out are completely redundant. But the upside to this new strength is the hugs that you do give me are magnificent.
The greatest hurdle this year has been a shift in the relationship between the two of us. You have been given greater autonomy over the time we spend together. This has seen us apart more than we have ever have. This has been heartbreaking for me as a mother, something I defined myself as for so many years. Despite these new challenges, nothing has or ever will diminish the love I feel for the sweetest little boy I have ever known. I am so unbelievably proud of the young man you are becoming.
You were the one who made me a mother. Your mother. Nothing will ever change that. I just hope that one day the invisible thread that connects us will bring you back to me.
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