Five Star Friday and a sweatshirt

I want to give a quick shout out and Thanks! to Five Star Friday for linking to my post about these awful and wonderful Tween years! We got to experience the good and bad side with D11 (the main tween in our household right now - we also have D9 and D17). In case you are wondering and for those just joining me today D11 is our 11 year old daughter, and then we have 9 and 17 year old daughters too. It was D16's birthday yesterday so she's upgraded to D17 (gonna have to figure out some new non-changing names for them I think). We are in the middle of the tween years and finding the day to day changes soooo challenging with mood swings, crying jags, outbursts of energy both happy and sad, and all the other maddening wonderful things that go along with these years.

I just bought a couple books on the tween years and am currently in the middle of "The Tween Years: A Parent's Guide for Surviving Those Terrific, Turbulent and Trying Times" by Donna G. Corwin. It's a great book and an easy read. The best thing I've learned so far is that lots of tweens act this way and they don't really want to. It describes the daughter who still wants to be a little girl and play with Barbies and stuffed animals yet wants to be independent and grown up at the same time. How she wants to cuddle and have her Mom and Dad time, yet when surrounded by friends wants nothing to do with you (luckily this hasn't happened with great force with D11 yet - she still like us). How it is truly a life changing time for both the kids and the parents and some tips on how to get through them.

Anyways, last night was a busy night. We had D17's birthday dinner, then a trot over to a local park to hear D9 sing (which was great by the way) and then home to take a shower. Ugh....the dreaded shower. D11 fought us for a while and I tried really really hard not to fight back. I was stern and gave her the run down of what she needed to get done. I did lose my cool a few times in the process but attempted to not take her yelling and argumentative attitude personally. She finally conceded and took a quick shower. Then it was off to bed (after 20 minutes of delays, drinks of water, hugs, and stalls). Then she started crying. I hollered for her to stop (yes I admit, at this point I was losing my cool) thinking that her crying was just an attempt to get us back into her room for another delay. But she didn't quit. Finally GG (Great Guy, my hubby, her stepdad, for the first time visitors) asked her to come out and sit with us and tell us what was wrong. Through tears and laughter we discovered that all of this had to do with a boy. She apparently saw a boy she "likes" loan his sweatshirt to another girl in her class at recess. It was crushing to her and she cried with us about how it felt. We talked for a few more minutes with her about her feelings and ways she could deal with it but it was new to us too. Then off to bed she went, with a kiss from me and GG and loves all around.

Oh wow...I think the boy times are beginning. You see this is new - she's never been into boys. Yeah sure she had the occasional few through the years she claimed to like and she laughed about it but never worried about them much. But those hormones aren't raging for nothing. Now don't worry....I've done the Mom check. Her hormones aren't going anywhere except to the pitter patter of her heart. She thinks kissing is "ewwy", thinks there is no way you would hold hands or hug and would never dream of touching a boy with even a finger (all her words not mine) but her heart dropped at the sight of the sweatshirt exchange. It was the first sign to me that she was beginning to feel those grown up girl hormones and emotions. My baby is growing up. That makes my heart drop. To find the words to help her made me realize that while she'll always be my baby, my baby is becoming a young lady. Ugh. Now I'm the one crying. And all because of a lousy sweatshirt. I need to go find one of mine....maybe she can wear that one for a while.

Thanks for checking in, SmileyGirl