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Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Mr. Independent begins to emerge (in a new room)
My baby boy is moving out.
OK, well he’s not really moving out, he’s moving into the guest room, but the guest room is further away from my room and I am having some serious growing pains. After all, even though it is in the same house, the guest room is still further away from my own room.
I realize moms have cat-like hearing and instincts, but what if he needs me in the middle of the night? What if he has a nightmare and I can’t hear him?
He’s moving out of the room he has shared with his little brother for several years.
So what about my younger son who would climb into the top bunk with his big brother during thunder storms? I guess he will have to resort to cuddling with Mommy again.
Of course, with the mountains of backpacks, Legos and football gear; and with limited closet space - it was getting a little crowded in the John Deere themed room. But, apparently that wasn’t really the reason for our almost-8-year-old’s move-out request.
“Mom, my brother is driving me nuts! I want to have my own room.”
My husband and I knew this day would come, we just didn’t expect it so soon.
Knowing that being downstairs “alone” (spooky ooh’s and ahh’s here) sometimes freaks him out; we decided to entertain his move-out request anyways.
“OK, but before we move everything down there, I need to know you aren’t going to be afraid and you will actually sleep there all night,” I said with some satisfaction, knowing I would find him in the top bunk - upstairs - the next morning.
Oh, how wrong I was. I have now been wrong every night for more than a week.
On night three my heart was aching and I just had to go check on him. There he was, in that over-sized bed, sprawled out in a peaceful, comfy slumber.
I stood there, staring - and maybe shedding a few tears - (come on, all moms do it!) and watched him sleep, wondering when my sweet baby turned into an independent little boy. And though he made soft murmurings in his sleep, like the baby he once was, he was not afraid.
Neither was his younger brother who, once he realized the upstairs room was to be his and his alone, immediately took over.
He set up dragon battles all over the floor, began making Bendaroo art on every inch of free space and has requested new bedding because he is also, “too big for John Deere.”
No love lost between these brothers.
I’ll get used to it. I’m proud of my boys for being so grown-up about this change in their young lives, but I am left to wonder … what on earth am I going to do with all of the junk I had stored in the guest room?
Contact this contributing writer at Motherhoodcolumn@yahoo.com or facebook.com/motherhoodCTC.
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