My baby is growing up!!!!!

I realize I am stating the obvious with the title of this post, but boy, was it apparent this morning!! I've mentioned before that I have a 9-year old son who is presently in the third grade. I know I am biased, but Devin is a smart, funny, sweet kid...who is also very much a boy. This is not a negative statement, just a true one. About this morning....Dev and I were down at the end of our road, waiting for the school bus, as we always do. In Kindergarten through Second grade, when the bus approached, he would always give me a big hug, tell me he loved me and he would ask me to wait on the sidewalk until he got to his seat on the bus so that he could wave to me before the bus took off. What a difference a few months makes! This morning, as has happened the past few weeks, I went to give Devin a hug as the bus approached (please note that the bus was way down the road at this point, so his friends couldn't see us), and he turned his back and stiffened up, mumbling a "loveyou" in reply to my "I love you, Dev, have a good day at school!" Plus, he no longer wants me to wait to wave to him once he is on the bus. Sigh. I didn't get angry or take it personally, as I understand this is all a part of growing up and asserting his independence. I just didn't think we'd hit the "mom is embarrasing" stage quite so soon! At home, without the watchful eyes of his peers, Devin is still an affectionate Mommy's boy who wants me around, so I can live without the public hugs. I do, however, dread the teen years, when I will go from being a mild embarrasment to him to being "lame". When I look ahead to that time, I always think of the character Axl from the Patricia Heaton sitcom "The Middle". Axl is the oldest son, an eye-rolling high-schooler who lays around the house in his underwear yelling "God, Mom!!!!" at the slightest word from his mother!!! Calgon, take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!

Let's move on to song of the day. It is "Hero Takes a Fall" by the Bangles, from their first album, 1984's "All Over the Place". I was trying to choose between this track and "Goin' Down to Liverpool", also a great song from this album, but ultimately, I went with the former song. I've already mentioned that I am a car-singer. Not a GOOD singer, a car-singer. "Hero Takes a Fall" is a fantastic song to blast and sing along with in the car. I try to only engage in this activity when I am alone in the car, out of consideration for others, but if I am alone, I let it RIP!!! The singing, that is! In the late 80's, I had the pleasure of going to a Bangles concert and sitting in the third row! A co-worker of mine asked me to take her daughter and her daughter's friend to the concert in exchange for gas money and a free ticket. As a Bangles fan, I was happy to do this, but didn't realize how great our seats were until we got there! Those women put on a truly fun show.