Just the other day I was the mom of small kids and then I blinked and they were tweens, you know that weird stage between 9 years old and 12 when they’re awkward and pushing boundaries and now???? Well now I’m the mom of two teenagers! My daughter turned 18 years old in November and my son just turned 16 years old.
Parenting is like a constantly moving target, just when you feel you’re getting the hang of a certain age and then they get older and change and has we handled the last phase no longer applies.
Well now we officially have teens that are edging closer to adulthood (my daughter will say she is now an adult, but my mind isn’t quite wrapped around that yet).
This week has been a whirlwind of prepping, packing, baking, gift buying, making jam to sell at a gift market, celebrating my sons birthday and then in the thick of all the chaos my daughter managed to get her Drivers License!!!! Just a little extra to add to the madness.
Now I’m starting to feel OLD! But at the same time 42 year old me is feeling the freedom that comes with growing up responsible young people that are capable and self sufficient. The other part of me is morning the previous season and trying to embrace the change that is coming faster than we think.
We tried our best to make a big deal over my son who hates having any attention on him. He is an introvert while my daughter is the polar opposite and loves having loads of people in her life.
We celebrated a day early with Ribs at The Toad. It’s a brilliant pub in the Noordhoek Farm Village frequented by all the locals and their food is hearty and brilliant.
Then we headed home for a little birthday celebration of balloons, candles and chocolate cake! My son hates this part and cringes when we sing Happy Birthday 🥳. But I smother him anyway. There’s a reason the word SMOTHER also has MOTHER in it!!!!
The next morning I drove him to my folks in the city for some more spoiling and treats.
My sister quickly got him off to City Rock for a rock climbing session for his birthday. He seems to be quite a natural and is definitely not scared of heights. He scaled the highest walls quickly with his long limbs and light body.
I think we may have finally found a sport that he could enjoy so I’m going to look into a climbing club for the 2022.
Then he was celebrated all over again with more cake and candles and board games to keep everyone entertained. (He’s a computer gamer, but he loves board games too)
While Seth spend time with his grandparents, I drove my daughter to her driving test at the Testing Center. I know she was nervous but I felt like my stomach was in knots for her too.
Getting her drivers license has been a tough journey in this Covid season. She tested 6 weeks ago and unfortunately failed because she just got so anxious that she blanked out and could parallel park in the box. We quickly rebooked and the first space we could get was in a months time. So she took a break, booked a few more lessons and was totally ready for the next test. That morning she was booed for 7.30am and there we sat in the car waiting until eventually a staff member came out to tell us that she wouldn’t be doing her test that day as they had 3 positive Covid cases in the office and would be closing the office for the rest of the week! What???!! We had waited a month and now she couldn’t do her test. Tears and frustration followed as the next test date was up in the air…
A week later we got a message that there was a gap on the 23rd December at 1.30pm!!!! Hooray!!! In time for Christmas holidays.
We turned up just on time, ready, and I reassured her that she would pass the yard section and then the next part on the road would be easy. And off she went.
She aced the yard in no time and began the road driving part of the test. At this point my husband collected me and we went for a coffee at the beach while we waited to hear back. I’ve seen so many people fail and they’re given the bad news immediately to put them out of their misery, but this time T was left waiting after the test had finished. I messaged her to find out how it was goi by and all she could say was that they were counting the points. A whole 15 minutes later she eventually replied that she had PASSED!!!!!! HALLELUJAH!!!!! Wooohoooooo!!!!
She had conquered her nerves and passed the test that hopefully she will never have to take again.
I was relieved for her and now I’m my mind saying goodbye to my sweet little car which she will be commandeering.
Parenting is incredible and parenting is hard. It’s been a week of celebration and stress, but at the end of the day it is all worth it. We’re all moving forward towards a bright future full of hope and expectation, praying there aren’t too many more curveballs in 2022.
