Memorable Milestones

Posted by LisaV | 0 comments

There are those milestones in your child’s life you will always remember, like teaching him to ride a two-wheel bicycle for the first time. The milestones change as your children get older and often appear in subtle ways. One of those moments happened this past Saturday, as my husband lay flat on the couch with the flu.

We had committed to attend a college student’s piano recital that evening and I still wanted to go, so I asked our 9-year-old to go with me. I decided to leave our 12-year-old at home with his dad, and off we went on our 40-minute drive.

Afterwards, my husband told me our 12-year-old had made him a sandwich, gotten him water, and put a blanket on him. I had always known our firstborn was kind and gentle, but this was the first time he was able to show these characteristics to his sick dad.

Our near-teen has grown up a lot the past couple years, hitting a growth spurt that doesn’t seem to end. He’s passed up both his father and me in height and is maturing both on and off the court. He loves babies and young children, who seem drawn to him. At a homeschool field trip last week, he walked hand in hand with his 5-year-old friend around the conservatory. One evening, after dropping our 9-year-old off at basketball practice, I came home to find our 12-year-old sweeping out the garage simply because he wanted to do it.

This morning our 9-year-old awoke first and cooked himself a sunny-side up egg. Later, his older brother made himself two scrambled eggs. Their inspiration comes from Chef Ramsey and his show, Kitchen Nightmares. The boys wrapped the majority of our 100 eggrolls yesterday, and I realized they may be budding chefs after all.

Homeschooling allows us to spend this time together, in the kitchen and with each other, taking care of one another.

One last example is the “automatic door,” a concept developed by our 9-year-old. When he hears the garage door open as Dad comes home from work, our son will listen for his father’s footsteps walking up to the house. Just as he reaches the door, our son will open and hide behind the door. He does this for me as well when I return from an outing.

These are the moments we’ll cherish and remember.

Please share your memorable milestones in the comments below.

Lisa (aka Morning Rose) has been teaching her two elementary-aged sons for four years and incorporating study, work, service, and play into their homeschooling days. She enjoys reading, writing, and photography and blogs publicly at Pockets of Time and privately at Scooter and B.