Circle of Life ----part two

During Easter lunch I was discussing my last post with my family. We started talking about how kids down through the past 50 years are basically the same, not just members of the same family. My kids have come home from school telling me the same jokes I learned in elementary school. On of their favorite Christmas carols( that really can be sung any time of the year) is the one we all learned in 3rd grade--"jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin laid an egg---." They tried to tell me their friends made up some of the lines. That could only be true if they had been in school for 20 years.

We were talking about my kids all taking turns being terrified of bugs. My grandmother said "I seem to remember two little girls who wouldn't go to sleep because of a microscopic spot on the ceiling they thought was a spider." I suppose she was speaking of Fiorinda and I(?) but that couldn't be. My mom said she had to pull off of the road one time because someone was screaming hysterically about a gnat in the car (not me--I screamed about plenty of other things though). I can't get from the front door to the car without at least one person holding on to the back of my shirt screaming like they had actually been stung by a bumblebee.

I just think it's funny. Some of these things should be considered milestones along with learning to walk and getting your first tooth. I know there was someone in my house who was just as proud of our oldest son when he learned how to make sounds under his armpit as I was when he learned to talk. And just as proud again when his brother figured it out.

The more kids you have the more times you get to experience all of these different things. Each time though is a little bittersweet. On one hand, it is entertaining to hear the jokes and the songs, see them be so proud of themselves for each new discusting thing they figure out. On the other hand, each new section of the circle is one more step towards being grown up.