A milestone of sorts

Last night the Y had one of its monthly middle school fun nights. Thinking that he'd probably say no, I asked W. if he'd like to go. He said yes and was terribly excited, after all, they have a very cool game room for kids 7 and up. While he was there, we planned to go out to dinner with some neighbors and then come home and watch football wih them. So it was time to go and my sweet guy comes downstairs to tell me he and D. are waiting for me when I notice that his hair is not only combed, but it has been wetted down so he's all dapper and ready to go. I asked him about it and he got embarrassed so I dropped it. We dropped R. and T. at the neighbors and picked them up. I asked their 8th grade daughter and her friend, who have been to one of these evenings if they thought W. would like it (they are at the bus stop with him). They seemed fairly doubtful, which made me a bit apprehensive but he was so gung-ho that I wasn't going to say anything. We took him to the Y and when we dropped him off (we weren't allowed to come in, thank-you very much because we are *so* embarrassing), T. teasingly told him not to pick up too many girls. I think he actually blushed. We grown-ups went on our way and had a nice evening. W. did call once to check-in. We actually think he was just tickled beyond tickled to have my cell phone with him and wanted an excuse to use it. D. eventually went and picked W. up and brought him back to the football gathering. I asked how it was and he was flying high. He'd had a fabulous time despite the fact that two of his "mortal enemies" from school were there. He also confided in a whisper that what Mrs. P. had teased him about had happened because there were two girls there who liked him. Telling me this made his absolutely giddy and pink with embarrassment (unlike his younger brother, the self-declared and matter-of-fact Casanova of M.R. Elementary School). I'm so pleased he enjoyed himself, had the courage to go without any friends, and got a good taste of growing up. In my head he's still the little peanut who liked to eat dog food, climbed into his sister's car seat to be with her, and charmed his preschool teachers with his enormous vocabulary. But I guess he's growing up. Of course, once he was back with us, he scooted off to play Legos with his little brother and sister. So he's still sort of half child and half pre-teen.