Dramatic Entry into Adolescence

Oh, yes, dear readers, we are deep in the throws of adolescence. The boy child has been rapidly turning into the man/child.  Man in body, boy in spirit.  I believe Habtamu is now taller than me.  I'm trying not to think about it. Yordanos is now in young lady phase... sometimes "You come here right now, Young Lady!"  and sometimes, "You are becoming such a kind young lady."

I was reminded the other day how far we have actually come with overcoming childish behaviors... I should say we ALL have been working on this.  Turns out I had my own share of childish behaviors to overcome after seeing how obnoxious they were in children.  If I don't want my child to x,y, or z, then I can't x,y,or z.  Nuts.

Back to the man/child...  "Wha?"

He's desperately trying to grow up, and we're trying to give him more freedom.  He recently learned a big lesson about lying and a big lesson about messing up, fessing up, and moving on.  We're getting there.  He seems to grow up a little every day and I realize how quickly time is flying by.  He is very interested in "When I'm 16 can I ___?" and "When I'm 18 can I ____?"  "How old do you have to be to do _____?"   Part of us is trying to hold on tightly and say "NOoooooooooooooooooooooooo!  You can't be thinking about that YET."  and the other part is saying "Well, we've got to let go of some things."  Habtamu will often say things like, "So, you want to control me?"  and I'll say, "No.  I want YOU to control yourself."  And he'll say, "HOW I SUPPOSED TO DO THAT?"  "Well, pay attention to what I'm telling you now so you can make good choices later."


A good choice for this picture would have been to smile naturally, so you don't look like a rabid badger.