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<p>But aren’t you glad your twins came second instead of first? You will be experienced when you tackle two at a time.</p>
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<p>Two of my three kids do that. I’ve come to realize that there is no value in saying, “You have to clean your room right now” because that is when everything on the floor ends up in the hamper, even what was washed and folded earlier the same day.</p>
<p>Our kids have been responsible doing their laundry for years. With our daughter, the Smithie, there was no problem getting it done at home and college is no different. For the boys, however, we still have to prompt them to do it. Now, the big question for me is what will happen when S1 goes off and there’s no more prompt? To top it off, he’ll have to pay to do the laundry. I know the answer, and it does not evoke a pretty picture. Our daughter has joked that one college in her area offers free laundry machines because otherwise some students might never wash their clothes. I fear my son may join this group :-(</p>
<p>Minimom and oregon101–we know some terrific boys heading off to Bearcat world this Fall. Smart, funny, athletic–I’m sure they will meet! And Mini, your D must be about headed home, right? I know finals are wrapping up at L&C. JSM, my DH (a a school board dude) is giving a grad speech, so <em>I</em> will be working on that one soon! No pressure…but the cool thing is that he gets to hand S2 his diploma–I’ll be weeping…again… (or is that “still”)</p>
<p>HMW: well THAT 2nd grader will keep you young…and in shape!</p>
<p>Eggmom, you mean that’s NOT what the dryer is for??? BTW, parents–has anyone else fallen in love with the no-iron shirts? I LOVE the Brooks Bros and other brand ones–have saved the fam a ton in cleaning, and they come out of the dryer looking like new. Definitely good for college boys too.</p>
<p>From central OH here where Ohio State is the only school that most kids consider (not mine of course), DS is graduating with a BS in Biology and a BA in history next weekend from Case Western and has no job lined up cause he was sure he would get into med school (NOT). He’s looking at some research prospects in Columbus (so would move back home for a while) and there’s a remote chance his current research lab manager will find some funding for him to continue on in Cleveland (I did point out to him that he has to get enough money for all his expenses which may not happen). He’s actually gotten pretty good at laundry and rarely brings dirty stuff home at this point.</p>
<p>DD is going to U of Richmond in August. Laundry isn’t her thing but this summer it will have to become her thing. She will be working at the Columbus Zoo where she has volunteered for the past 4 years (they’re going to pay her this year yeah!)</p>
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<p>Yesterday was the middle school pep rally where the honor the Special Olympians…more tears…</p>
<p>Today is the County Championship track meet. Every year at this meet they have the senior athletes “walk” with a parent(s) in front of the spectators. They announce their accomplishments, academic and athletic, announce the college plans, etc.</p>
<p>I always thought it was sweet to watch. Now, I’m choking up at even the thought. This is my D who didn’t think she could run and is now a pretty darn good varsity athlete. This is the same girl who claimed she loved cross country , except for the running 
It’s been so fun to watch three kids at the meets (D, S1, and S2). I will sorely miss seeing her compete. </p>
<p>I’m also realizing she didn’t ask me what info to submit of the announcement…hmmm what does that mean?</p>
<p>crm…erghhhhh sending twins off: Here is what we did but YMMV</p>
<p>start early with the visits, </p>
<p>make sure each has true safeties and rolling admit/EA schools. </p>
<p>Figure out some way to organize and separate T scripts/ letters of rec and supplementals </p>
<p>We went low tech with color coded file folders DDs refused to do the wall calendar </p>
<p>College board’s school list and calendar was really helpful. I printed it out and highlighted the key points and gave it to my girls.</p>
<p>Most of my kids’ schools were on the common app which was a life saver. The UC campuses required only one app too so another blessing. </p>
<p>Can’t really remember right now what else we did but that’s the brunt of it</p>
<p>minimom and oregon101 I still am getting heart pangs when you mention Willamette. sigh… but hey I am sure she will be great at either of HER other choices. ;)</p>
<p>My kids have been doing their own laundry for years. The girls’ hamper is their floor and their closet is their window seat. DS “cleans” his room by sorting his laundry into three piles. You would think that he would then wash those things and some do make it through the washer but the remainder stay in those piles until they are respread around his floor and the process begins anew. Not a battle I have been willing to fight but we have had many you can’t do X until your laundry is done.</p>
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<p>Okay, that’s choking me up, too.</p>
<p>Of course, I do tend to cry more for other people’s kids than I do my own. For example, if it was my kid, he would have submitted something ridiculous for the announcer to read and I’d be thinking “what the heck” instead of weeping.</p>
<p>At our church, the Christmas Eve service always starts wth a child singing the first verse of Once in Royal David’s City. For years I choked up as other people’s kids sang it. But when my girls did it as a duet, I was so worried about whether they’d hit the high note and stay on pitch that I didn’t shed a tear.</p>
<p>SJTH, what is this “iron” you speak of? Out of the dryer and onto the hangers, that’s my MO. “Nobody cares about wrinkles except for interviews, concerts, and prom” is geek_son’s.</p>
<p>He knows full well how to do laundry, and does it. He just waits to see if I’ll do it first.</p>
<p>Tomorrow will be our last “senior night” for our son. We did it at the end of football for that sport, but nothing was settled in terms of schools, etc and graduation seemed a long way off. Now, however, at the final home lacrosse game they not only refer to their role on that team, but all of their accomplishments (on the field and off) will be highlighted. Having organized the evening for other senior classes, I know it does become very bittersweet. </p>
<p>Yesterday the yearbooks came out. Along with a baby picture and their senior picture, seniors have the option of writing favorite memories, toasts to friends and many, but not all, also thank their parents and siblings. Some are light and some are deep, but I have to say the words of thanks paired with the striking visual of how far he has come - from that loopy-curled hair silly boy to this handsome and strong young man - was jarring in its effects. Life flies by so quickly and it is amazing to me how easily I can still find that little boy in him when I stop to really look. Problem is, he’s not going to be around next year to catch a glimpse of it here and there. Yep… I am so incredibly proud of who is he becoming, but I will miss terribly the sensitive little boy he once was.</p>
<p>Some really good advice here! I’ll have to really push S to be an athelete at college so that at least he’ll have clean prac/game clothes or one with the laundry service!! LOL! </p>
<p>There is an ongoing joke at our house that if your room mate is not weird, that means YOU are the weird room mate…D has resigned herself to this roll! Her college does not have any kind of room mate survey - Yikes! She actually told me she wants to room with someone neat because she thinks she’ll be able to maintain her room better in college (yea right! can’t even get clothes into the hamper she has in her room, they lie next to it in many piles, and on her chair ('I’m going to hang those up…") etc.) and to make matters worse, the cat matches her rug so even the one ‘path’ to her bed is hazard filled! I told her one of the restrictions of her college search was that she had to be AT LEAST 1 hour away - didn’t want to make it too easy to come home to do laundry every weekend!</p>
<p>Prom is over here, easiest one so far! Graduation is in 3 weeks, plus the awards, and all the other ceremonies…and some how ended up having a grad party for freinds (tried to get some other mom to step up but no luck…). Decided to wait until the end of summer to do the family/neighbors/parental freinds party and make it a ‘college send-off’ party instead of a grad party so one less event this month! </p>
<p>So glad to meet you all and have others to go through this process with!</p>
<p>Who else has kids in the AP Lit test today? Told TwinK that perhaps this year she should use her best handwriting rather than her “normal” script which is undecipherable even to her at times. I am thoroughly convinced that her score last year on AP Lang was compromised by her atrocious penmanship. I have a writing sample from second grade verifying that she had better writing as an elementary kid than she does now. </p>
<p>This weekend is “apply for work weekend” for mine. Hope they are successful!</p>
<p>I was just going to post that AP Lit is almost over. I am amazed that Son does not get horrible scores on his essays because his handwriting is so so bad…there’s a neurological reason for it, but the graders don’t know that.</p>
<p>They pick up caps and gowns today.</p>
<p>historymom you are so organized. I feel like I didn’t do anything for my kids. Just said here’s some ideas of schools to look at based on what you told me you wanted. Here’s when we can visit and once done the what did you think question. With S he formed an opinion immediately every place we went. D sometimes did but typically took her a couple of days before letting us in on what she was thinking. Both did the ED thing and got in. Not much need for folders or charts on the wall then.</p>
<p>Not sure if Bates does the kids practice clothes and their uniform – I would think that they do the uniform so that it’s clean. I can see my D trying to figure out what she did with the clothes to get them to be washed. She can do wash at home – in her own time of course. It’s always the frantic search though for where are my shorts to my uniform or something else though when doing the laundry. Switched both D and S over to doing their own laundry when I got the “but I expected that to be clean so that I could wear it today” line.</p>
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<p>I have a friend whose son is a manager for a Division I football team…from what she said, all the clothes of anyone who is associated with the team became “practice clothes.” Her son didn’t do his own laundry the whole season!</p>
<p>moda–your post made me tear…they continue to grow so much once in college, but still have that little child in there. </p>
<p>we all know the theory that if you hold and nurture your baby when they are dependent they become secure and ultimately can become more independent…well my theory is that once they leave home and become independent, (as in we let go and they go off to college) they gradually become secure in their independence, (they know they can manage without us) and then can let themselves be a little dependent, so they can hang out with us on the couch, call to talk or ask our opinions…</p>
<p>and while its hard its important to trust that they can handle things without us…sadly our kids encounter a variety of difficult and sometimes frightening challenges…as TheAnalyst can attest to. My son’s college had 7 cases of H1N1 flu confirmed, (at this point pretty matter of fact but was initially concerning for them) and tragically, yesterday at Wesleyan Univ, where my niece is a junior, a young woman from her dorm was shot and killed while working at the bookstore. a senseless act of violence~our hearts go out to her family, and her college community that has lost its innocence. Our kids often have to cope with things we may have never encountered.</p>
<p>D is taking her AP Lit test as we speak. Took her French test in another city on Monday since we were out of town for nepehew’s wedding. She said it was actually better taking it at the other school becuase they have better facilities…great we spent all that money for her private school and they have better facilities at a public school???</p>
<p>Any private/smaller school parents out there? Do they do a rollcall at your school to announce where seniors are going next year? D’s school does one when they hand out yearbooks but this year they are only announcing East coast or West coast instead of the school name. I know D is not happy that they have decided to not name schools because of the potential for some to look down on others choices. She feels that it is more beneficial to know that others may be attending the same school and in fact students have been posting on the school e-mail where students got accepted. Personally I agree w/ D - just because most go off to top LAC/Ivy’s etc. does not take away anything from those that choose non LAC/Ivy’s for what ever reason. BTW D is not in the first group…and the kids are going to wear their college shirts (of where they are going) that day anyway!!</p>
<p>After several summer programs, S knows how to wash his clothes. Not sure what he does when they come out of the dryer, though. For the life of me, I can’t recall ever seeing him fold clothes. They usually land in his horizontal closet (aka “floor”). I can live with that. What I can’t live with are all the dishes, cups, silverware, and empty coke cans in his room.</p>
<p>He had to turn down the college with the housekeepers. The ones that vacuum, tidy, wash and change sheets.</p>
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<p>Sounds like there’s a big difference in private schools and publics where there are 600-800 kids.</p>
<p>Text from Son about AP Lit: “totally got a 5.” Hope he’s right.</p>
<p>CMS (Claremont Mckenna, Mudd, Scripps) has a laundry service for their athletes. Scripps also has maid service in the dorm. </p>
<p>No phone message from Scripps and no mail either but D received info from St. Mary’s honors program. She is falling for SMC more and more.</p>
<p>lindz: I love your full circle illustration.</p>