It's official, I have a teenager!

My firstborn is a teenager. I can no longer hold him in my arms and kiss all over his face. I can't pick him up and carry him to his bed and tuck him in. I could go on and on with all the things I can't do now that he's older, but there are a lot of things that I can do. We can have a meaningful conversation. I can look at his life and know that God is working in it and that Christian is a good kid. I can also worry when he's late and be mad as soon as he walks in the door because he made me worry. I can question myself when I realize how much he's texting; I think an average of 2500 in/out messages is a little obsessive. Did I tell you that over Christmas he had 8500 in/out messages? I get to explain why I'm taking his phone away because a "C" in science at midterms is not acceptable. I'm sure my parents are reading this and laughing at me because I brought home "C's" and now I'm punishing my son for the same thing I did. Christian is so much smarter than me and a little effort on his part would allow him to make much better grades than I did. THe problem is that it takes some effort and he's ALWAYS sending text messages. How can anyone study and do homework if you're texting 100 messages per day and 6 of those hours are at school and trust me I've tried to catch him texting at school and he goes by the rules: the phone is turned off at 7:30 and back on at 2:30- on the dot! I get to have conversations that I thought I wouldn't have till later; I'm glad we get to have them, but I thought it would be later and I could ease into this teenager life. Nope! It's 0-60 in 30 seconds! It happens so fast. I am no longer the most important person in his life. He tells me that he's talking to his friends about advice with girls; like they know? It's frightening to think that he's taking advice from peers; that's what I did! So, for all my friends with young kids: love them & be the center of their world, know that this time is short. Teach them all the things they need to know- God loves them, you love them unconditionally and there's nothing that they could do that would change that (it doesn't mean they won't face consequences). They need grace and we need to remember what we were doing at 13 and realize that they are not different. I'm hopeful that Christian is not going to repeat ALL my mistakes, but where would the fun be if he didn't test the boundaries a little? I'm probably going to pay for that last statement!