Babies Don't Keep

Just six months ago Rylee was asking for Barbies & Webkins for her birthday. 

She just couldn't get enough. Having two older sisters she has a most impressive collection of Barbie paraphernalia and between birthdays, Christmas and saving her allowance she has close to 15 little Webkin animals. And she loves them. Her Barbie house is arranged just so and her "special" Barbies have places where they are meticulously posed  in between being played with. Her Webkins all have special names and she even has a rotation order as to what Webkin sleeps with her each night. (I believe we even took ALL of them on vacation last year!)

This week (insert sounds of angels trumpeting) we got new carpet in the basement!! Hurray!! I was finally able to put the toy room/closet back together. (Everything's been stacked in the storage room for a couple months. We looked like crazy hoarders when you walked in that room.)

It was late Wednesday when I offered to let the kids stay up if they help me put the toy room back together. Alex was "YES! ME! I WILL HELP!!" (He LOVES to stay up late.) So we started. I asked Ry if she wanted to keep the Barbies and Barbie house in her room for awhile because if she didn't, now was the time to tell me so I can plan the toy room accordingly. She nonchalantly and without heistiation said, "Put it downstairs. I don't like Barbies any more." 

What? I stiffled a gasp. 

Who was the pre-teen girl child?

We moved everything down and began sorting and organizing. We have WAY too many stuffed animals and considering NO ONE plays with any of them. Every single one is too many so we packed them up with a plan to find a good home for them. Then Rylee drops bomb number two,
"I don't want my Webkins either."
My eyes bulged and I asked "Are you sure?" 
"Yes. They're dumb. I don't ever want to play Webkins again."
In hindsight I didn't realize that I haven't had to kick her off the computer for playing Webkins for months. I should have clued in. She was moving on.  

It hurts my heart to realize that this toy room is not for my children but for my nieces and nephews and my future grandchildren.

For almost 19 years I have children playing with toys.

And now we're pretty much done.

Oh, sure. They play. They play on the computer. They play video games. They play on the trampoline but no one plays houses, cars, guns, dress ups, princess, cops and robbers. No one wants to build with blocks, or have me dress their Polly Pockets, put Barbies arm back on, build Lego towers, or have a tea party. No one wants me to hold their babies bottle or babysit their stuffed elephant. 

We're too old for that now. 

We moved on to the need for cell phones, facebook accounts and night games.

*Sigh*

I just realized I will have FOUR teenagers in my house as of July 28th and one 11 1/2 year old who looks, acts and wants so much to be a teenager too.

*Shakes Head*

Knowing how fast these 18+ years  have gone, I realize just how precious the next seven years are. Yes SEVEN years until my baby graduates from high school. Until they're all gone. Off to college. On their own. Moving forward with their lives.

Seven years.

That's like a blink.

And then our home will be empty. Empty of kids crowding around the computer laughing at the latest Youtube video, piano practicing, beat boxing, tramp jumping, night games, face booking, dance practicing, boxing matches, pounding their own composition on the piano over and over again, corny Disney channel sitcoms on Netflix, I-tunes, firecrackers, outdoor fire pits with s'mores, piles of shoes, coats and backpacks, water fights, movie quotes, sing a longs, late night homework blitzes, driveways full of cars and a yard full of friends.

*Sniff*

But just think how my life will be:

• I will be able to read my book and turn off my light at ten pm and no one will wake me up two or three times as they come home and check in and/or tell me about their date/night with friends or their excuse for being late for curfew.

•  I will not wake up in a panic at three in the morning only to run down and shake awake a sleeping teen that forgot to check in.

• I will wake up to a house that looks the same as when I went to bed without crumbs and dishes strewn on the counters in the kitchen.

• I will not come home to four or five friends eating us out of house and home, I-tunes blaring and girls and boys giggling and chasing each other in and out of the house.

• I will not buy Popsicle's.

• Milk will probably go sour and a batch of cookies will last more than a few hours. 

• I will not trip over long boards and roller blades in the garage.

• I will not find fishing sinkers, lip-gloss, and candy wrappers at the bottom of the washer.

• I will not vacuum up air soft bb's and hear them rattle around until I empty the canister.

• I will not be forced to come watch and perhaps be talked into purchasing the newest and coolest gadget being advertised on TV.

• I will not know the top hit songs, dance moves, newest fashions or hippest lingo.

• I will not drive any carpools or be the "cool" mom that drives both ways to parties. 

• I will have a couple of batches of laundry and no longer get confused over who's underwear/socks/gym shorts are who's?

• I will not be chasing down keys, homework, shoes and backpacks for children who are late due to such lost items.

• I will not be running to the school with forgotten lunches, tampons, and homework.

• I will not walk by a room so covered with shoes and clothes that I cannot see the carpet.

• I will not have a constant list of things we are out of like "good" shampoo and conditioner, contact solution & frozen burritos.

• I will not lecture about chores, modesty, crude humor, being kind, and grades.

• I will not find my calculator, tweezers, favorite sweater or mascara missing.

• James and I will not have to lock the door. 

• I will not be door bell ditched at midnight by some boy or girl that has a crush on one of my kids.

• I will not have piles of boots and gloves and snow pants piled in front of the fire (for days on end) drying after sledding.

• I will not listen for coughs, throwing up or sneaking out.

• I will not get texts reporting where there are, that they got there safe or they are on their way home now.

• I will not get failing notices in the mail and/or invitations to attend assemblies where my children will be recognized. 

• I will  not find the chocolate chips opened and almost gone, the cold cereal boxes empty but returned to the pantry, and the jug of empty milk sitting in the fridge.

• I will continue to be the only person that knows how to change the toilet paper roll.

• And I will not catch their scent as they kiss me on the cheek and leave smelling of cologne or perfume and lotion.
And I know - just like their childhood of toys and play things -  I will miss and mourn these teen years when they are over....

So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.

I’m rocking my baby and babies don’t keep.

P.S. We are sending one bag of small stuffed animals to an Ukraine orphanage with a friends heading there next month. The other we sent to Hugs for Haiti to be distributed to children in Haiti. (www.lovinghugs.org) But before I sent them off, I asked Kambree if she thought we should keep any. (She loved her stuffed animals the most.) I was sure being almost 19 that she would just shrug but she immediately dug through the bags and retrieved her favorite three stuffed dogs. (Daisy, Daffy and a dog Austin gave her years ago.) Upon seeing her attachment,  I told her I was sure I could find room in the toy room for them. Nope. She decided she'd just like to sleep with them for now.