Milestones!

I still remember the day I dropped M off for her first day of kindergarten and then cried all the way home.  I bet many of you can relate, right?  The bittersweet milestones of watching your baby grow up.  It's interesting with five kids though-- it seems like we hit milestones all the time, which for whatever reason makes them feel less bittersweet to me.  Maybe because I barely have the time to note the change before we are preparing for the next one?  Every year there are major ones.  For example, the next three years we expect to celebrate graduations (assuming all goes as planned).  This week we hit two big milestones: J graduated from high school and B got her driver's license.  Here we go, into a new era...

So what are J's plans?  He gets asked that all the time, and if you can get an answer out of him you are a miracle worker.  Nothing was more likely to get silence from J than "What do you plan to do after graduation?"  He got accepted to ASU's college of engineering with an $8k scholarship but after the nightmarish experience of his useless calculus for engineers class last fall (through ASU online, seriously it was such a bad experience that we made the decision for him to withdraw halfway through the semester) he wasn't eager to go straight into college.  His current plan is to find a job and work for about a year, with the plan to serve a mission after that. So if anyone has any job leads for a recent high school grad who is high-functioning autistic (with not much customer interaction) please let me know!

As for B and the driving, she was easiest of our kids so far to get from permit to license, and she is excellent for a new driver.  (Fortunately.  Teen drivers are a trial on a parent's nerves.  Well, even not-teen drivers.  M is nearly 21 and I still get anxious when she's behind the wheel.)  We are still waiting to hear what this does to our car insurance, as M is still on the policy, but she reaches three years with a license next month.  But our agent did warn that it will not be cheap.  Surprise, surprise.  But is anything "cheap" these days?

K and S are also done with school for the year, which is a relief.  I think K is just excited that he can spend more time playing online video games with his friends (his primary form of social interaction) and S is hoping that she will get to go swimming several times a week.  We'll see... it's hard being the youngest.  I don't know how often any of the older kids will agree to go.

Terence has had the worst cough he's had in years-- for two weeks now he's had a hard time getting any sleep at night because when he lays down he does nothing but cough.  He's tried nighttime cold medicine-- but he can only take it after he's no longer on call, and when he does take it he sleeps through his alarm so he's not a fan.  He feels fine otherwise-- and often during the day the cough goes away altogether for long periods-- but the nights...oh, the torture.  Luckily no one else in the family is coughing (knock on wood) because we have two major trips this summer, plus B's week as a YCL at camp.  And then school prep for the new year starts the middle of July (way too soon!)

Here's to looking forward though-- and more milestones to come!