Another milestone

As Mark has been studying up on driving, he's developed that (annoying) habit his other siblings did at the same age of criticizing my driving.  As in, "You know you're speeding, right Mom?"

I do my best.  I think maybe my foot is heavier than other people's though.

Mark is the proud owner of a learner permit.  And also at the DMV, the guy wrote lerner permit and it was a little painful for me to watch.

Before taking the test, they took Mark's picture.  They wanted him to take off his glasses, rendering him sightless.  They told him to smile so he smiled a big smile.  Then they said, "If you want." and I guess he decided he didn't want but then they snapped the picture and he was between expressions.

But even though he didn't love his picture, he passed the test!

So I texted a picture, like you do.

Braeden shot back this, zoomed in on the picture (of course he did):

I don't know.  I think he looks cute.  (But I always do.)

Braeden also texted this:

Although Mark being able to drive himself is appealing, I'm a little nervous too.

Adam and Mark went out for a drive and afterward Mark said that every muscle in his body was tense and an hour later he said he was still "shook."

Adam said he thought teaching Mark would be easier than the other kids.  He said maybe he's more relaxed.

Mark likes and knows about cars but like his Grandma Geri said on the phone, he's going to have to pay attention to driving instead of looking at all the other cars now.  He responded to her, "Yeah I didn't even see that Mitsubishi Eclipse when I was driving up the street."

Ummmm...

Sometimes I think about people that have a whole fleet of children (like 10!) and I'm just amazed that they have the fortitude to teach 10 children how to drive.

I don't even have the fortitude to teach three children (Adam is mostly in charge of that.)  My job is to just gasp dramatically when I ride with them and make them feel more nervous.

What can I say?  We all make our contributions.