Moving on

One of the things I have held onto in terms of pretending maintaining my kids are still the little ones they once were is the car seat/booster seat. Where we used to live, the law had recently changed to state the child had to be 80 lbs and/or 4'9" tall. I held fast to those numbers and heavily emphasized the "and" of it all.

I'm not sure that The Boy is actually 4'9" yet but he is very close. As for his weight - well, as of Saturday, he's 78 lbs. Truth be told, he moved out of his booster seat a little over a year ago. He was finished with the 3rd grade and I'm sure he was the only boy in his school still in a booster seat. For the most part, it was fine, but when he went somewhere with a friend, he had to get his seat. That, to him, was humiliating. I can see that. After some long discussions and a lot of crying (mostly by me), we took him out of his booster. The seat belts in my van and in The Husband's truck fit him exactly where they should have. It was a huge step for me to see my "baby" out of a car seat/booster.

The Girl is considerably smaller than The Boy...or so I always thought. She is not 4'9" and who knows when she'll ever be 80 lbs! I know she is over 60, but not by much! I have always teased her that she will go to the prom in a booster seat! The problem? Well, I noticed today that the shoulder strap of the seat belt is no longer where it belongs. It goes across the top of her arm - not over her shoulder. Have I mentioned she'll be 10 in only two more months? I think it is time for her to be rid of the booster seat and it is extremely difficult for me to even type the words, much less act upon them. This is a monumental stepping-stone in our lives. It's life altering. My kids are growing up and it's overwhelming.

I'm just going to sit in a corner and cry for a bit.