Growing Up, Growing Over

It just so happens that my wife is an awesome artist. With busy schedules, jobs, sports, and all the craziness that motherhood brings, she doesn't get a chance to use that artistic skill as much as she might like, but occasionally, she gets the chance to dream big and do something really cool.

One of those cool things is a wall in Little Calvin's room. Being that straight white walls tend to send us loopy.. like being stuck in a cell, we immediately had to start adding some color when it was his baby nursery, and so the wall became turquoise with a slight sponging effect (looked like clouds when it was all said and done). That then led to a full wall sized city mural back in 2004 when Little Calvin was going through his "Transportation phase". Back then he loved any kind of car or train or airplane and was one excited little kid to get his wall painted like a big city.

But fast forward 4 years. He's now almost 8 and he's gotten over the whole transportation thing. Instead of being fascinated by all thing that move on the planet, he has accepted these things as a part of everyday life and moved on.. to space aliens. But what becomes difficult for my wife, who spent a HUGE amount of time painting that city on the wall, is coming to terms with the fact that as he grows up, it must be erased.

So for the past few months, Little Calvin and his mom have been in planning mode, trying to figure out what to put on the wall instead of the city. The answer wasn't hard to find.. it's Little Calvin's constant obsession: Ben 10, the cartoon series about a boy who can turn into a large number of alien super heroes to help fight off the invading evils from other planets.

And so the "Ben 10 Room" began to take shape and the project started to take shape. It included.. replacing all the trains on his shelves with his Star Wars toys, making a new bed spread, new curtains, and finally the new wall. Essentially, everything with a car or train motif had to be replaced.

I think the most painful moment of the project came towards the beginning. WIth all the paint ready to go, the room prepped and ready, I let Little Calvin do the "ceremonies first brushes" to kick off the project. With paint roller in hand, he immediately wiped the truck (painted with a Wiggles logo) out of existence, as a sign of his growing up and moving on.

Many coats of primer and several coats of grey later, the wall looked remarkably different, all signs of city life completely gone. Then it was time for the Ben 10 mural to take shape... A chance for Dawn to have her giant, wall sized palette to work from once again.

Now the room is done.. painting complete, new curtains and bed spread in place and, as yet another sign of the times, his once hidden desk has now been pulled out, so he has a place to work on his homework.

Sure the kids grown 4 inches in just a few months.. he's now interested in sports, school, his piano and fiddle lessons, etc. But sometimes it's hard to watch those remnants of his childhood start to slip away. He is now "too grown up" for those "little kid things". While part of me is really excited to see these changes as it gives us more things to do together that he can handle, part of me will miss all his little trains, his old fascination with "bing bings" (railroad tracks, thanks to the sound the gates make when the trains go by) and the fun growth that early childhood brings.

Combine this with my daughter getting ready to start high school in a few months, and new found obsession with boys.. (I'll save that for another blog) and suddenly I find myself realizing my family is changing.. growing up.. and growing over their old interests. It's very weird to me, and so I have to try to enjoy each day before they go to sleep, to become a little older by tomorrow.

If you'd like to read Little Calvin's take on the whole new room thing, head over to my wife's new blog (she decided to jump into this blogging world last week), where she's going to let Little Calvin do some guest blogging for her. Click here for her blog.