It's HEEERRRRREEEEEE

I tried, for as long as possible, to hold on to hope that Alex would be "back" before Michael started adolescents. Well I tried. But It's here. The Big It. The boys equivalent to " that time of the month" puberty. The signs were coming the past few months, his eyes bugging out of his head whenever scantily clad women were on TV, his guffaws under his breathe when an innuendo was heard lately he has joined his bothers in holding to the family jewels as if they were dangling by a thin being of tatter skin off their pelvis'. CONSTANTLY. As much as I have reassured them that, to my knowledge, only Lorraina Bobbet was successful as removing the valued apendage, they apparently think 24 hour security is the only truly safe measure to take. I do not recall my brothers doing this, nor remember the 15 years of living with their father being fraught with fear that " it" would fall off. Our sons do not share this confidence, or it just feels to good to let go! ( Good thing they don't read my blog)! To be fair, Alex is a gentleman, he just checks occasionally to make sure it's there still.

So back to my adieu to their childhood and heave ho! into teenagerdom. Yesterday morning, in no less than 30 minutes Michael defied me 7 times. It was tell tale signs, I said, "would you please put your shoes on before you eat", he said " later". I do not tend to micro manage my kids, they have done really well with responsibility being placed squarely on their shoulders, but Michael is my pokey puppy absent-minded professor. Maybe defied is too strong of a word. But as my last hold out of a child who mostly listens and actively tries to please, it stung. The final straw, when I knew clearly I was no longer dealing with my sweet little boy, even with all the data I have already reported was what I will refer to as the " Throw Down". His adolescence decided to make sure I knew it was here in the car on the way to school. Michael has always tended to wear his food on his face. It baffled me how I could accurately tell at 5 p.m. what he had had for breakfast & lunch, with the social stigma's of Middle School hard to shake, I thought it important to point out to him the orange ring around his mouth. I handed him a tissue to wipe his face in the car, and  wait for it.
He defiantly threw it on the floor. That's when I knew. It's over. 9 weeks shy of his 13th birthday, he's a teen.
God help me.