Things have been a little tense in the mom and me field. The me, C, is spreading her teenage wings. And mom, D, has been super frustrated on so many different fronts. So it was really good tonight to laugh together.
The most wasted of all days is one without laughter. ~e.e. cummings
What seemed to be unfortunate, the loss of computer without complete parental supervision i.e. sitting directly next to you watching each and every keystroke (BTW - boy can C type fast), became a good laugh. She was IMing a friend from church. The subject turned toward Latin - one of my favorite subjects and my daughter's least favorite. We got very silly and had a good, long laugh. It is a very good thing that the cam was not on.
DD was asked to the homecoming dance. This is a biggy. This is the first date / dance, she will go on. We have one week to find a dress. It is a semi-formal. She is aiming towards:
I think something like this may be a better choice.
Or this one, which comes in a beautiful Lagoon (blue) color:
It is frightening how quickly they grow up. She will be beautiful. I hope that she has a good time.
Being a teen is tough. We adults know it because we've been there. You teens know it because your in it.
I've always tried to be honest with DD about life, but I'll be honest that I also have not given full disclosure about my life experiences. Some things are just better left in the past, but maybe she needs to know that I didn't come out as a fully formed, responsible adult. I made stupid choices too and got in trouble for them. I share these stories not because I want to encourage her to make mistakes, but so that when she makes them or are considering making them that she knows she can ask for my opinion or come to me to help her. The question is - how do you know how much to disclose? Do your kids really need to know all your stupid choices? Or is it better to be perceived as perfect? Do you tell them everything at once or disclose as they are having problems in specific similar areas?
There are days DH and I really wish there was a parenting manual.
I think that it is great that DD is still involved in Girl Scouts. It is a great program for her and a great opportunity for us to spend time together too. We may do a lot of good works, but this weekend was just fun. We went to see Carousel at the University of Hartford and then went to dinner. We were supposed to go the Cheesecake Factory, but with a 1 ½ to 2 hour wait, we opted to go to Cosci.
Theater tickets can be very expensive, but if you find a local college especially one with an acting / music program like the University of Hartford has the HARTT school, you can see excellent theater in an intimate setting for a very reasonable price.
Of course if you go with a group of five crazy teenagers in your car, you better be prepared for theater performance of your own on the way home. I was treated to the never-ending story (kind of like telephone, but each person adds a segment of the story) of a vampire, Jasper, and his human girlfriend, Tally. It was bizarre enough, but when we got closer and closer home and they realized that they had to finish up, the story took an even stranger twist when the dark dreary setting was suddenly pierced by blue skies and flowery meadows and out of nowhere a pink and white unicorn came prancing in with Obama on it. You can only guess that DD added that portion to which she “Dot, Dot, Dotted”(in other words, passed it to the next person to add their section). To which the next person added, “McCain then walked in since he didn’t have enough money to buy a unicorn and said, “My Good Friends” . . . Ok, I will not bore you with their craziness, but I will share with you the bases for their plot change, as we all know that every story has an inspiration.
What should I be for Halloween?? I have been asking myself this question, especially the closer it is getting to Halloween, but now I have decided. I will be Sarah Palin. Now all I need are the clothing options. I need those glasses, that are her whole look, and then there are those pumps.
My mom has offered a couple extras: Pig with lipstick on it and/ or a baby. I think I’ll go with just carrying a fake gun. One of my BFF’s said that he would go as McCain. Maybe he will, but no matter what, I am still going to be Sarah Palin for Halloween.
Ok, if DD and I have to be challenged so do you. She is working on her Language Arts homework . She has to create a puzzle where each word builds on the next. The letters have to stay in the same order, but you can one letter at a time anywhere in the word. You start with a two letter word and pyramid up to an eight letter word.
This message is to DD as much as anyone else. I saw this on YouTube and thought that she and you might be interested in this. Instead of reading Vogue and watching fashion shows, why not put one on.
Someone please tell me where the guidebook is for raising teenagers. I am trying so hard. I remember how difficult it was to be a teen, to try to fit it, to have your body change before your eyes; but I think DD, thinks that I have no idea what it is like.
We tried the mall again this weekend and then they came back to the house to hang out. I could tell you the good and the bad parts of the day, but suffice it to say there was a few times that I spoke to them and apparently in doing so completely embarrassed DD. After they left, she broke down in tears. My heart broke for her and I apologized for her being embarrassed, but refused to retract or promise not to do anything I did. Trying to maneuver our way through this time is going to be very difficult.
I welcome all advice, especially from those of you who have been through this and endured.
She is such a smart, interesting, creative girl. I don’t want her to shortchange herself. I wish that we could offer her so much more, but we do the best we can. I hope the one thing that she knows is that we love her with all our heart.
This one isn't freaky like the other ones that we have posted, but freaky in the sense of the commonality and differences of us all. And it reminds us of all our own blessings:
DD had asked to go hang out at the park with two of her friends. I nixed the idea. If we had been down at the fields, she could have gone off with them, but I could not see the point of just aimlessly roaming. It seemed like a recipe for trouble (not that DD tends to be trouble). So I told her that she was old enough to go to the mall with me, but then she and her friends could go off a bit by themselves as long as they checked back with me at the coffee shop (actually I did one better, I found a Boarders Bookstore with a coffee shop) periodically. She was estatic and so the day was planned or so I thought. She and her friends spent all morning making and breaking plans. The phone rang almost continuously, even DD got annoyed at her friends I think. Finally, the appointed time came and we headed over. I actually picked up my father so I had someone to keep me busy too. And would you believe it, one of the "friends" never made it - - -Let me rephrase that, "He arrived just in time for us to leave, as we had other plans for the evening". Then to top it off the other friend decided to stay with him and mean parent that I am, I refused to leave until I made sure that she was with the boy and his father, which resulted in us being late to our next stop. I was supposed to be home at 4 to head to DH's dad's house and instead I was barely leaving the mall. UhOh! So much for trying to be the cool mother of a teen.
However, I did get the next book for my book club, had a great hot vanilla Chai, and had a good conversation with my dad. So it wasn't a total loss.
NOTE: I went to the Borders website to find you a picture of their cafe. I keyed in the location we went to and opened up that link and found this picture of their store, except it isn't a picture of their store in the mall we went to. I hope no one uses this picture when they go online to get directions, because they will drive in circles at the mall and never, ever see this.
Yes, I have an ear infection! I hate it. I am writing this while ear is on a warm cloth sitting on my pillow. An ear infection, how did I get it? I hate it!!!!
What is your remedy to help ease the pain?
By C
Ear infections aren’t just for babies. DD is not feeling well. Could it be all the time on the phone?
Actually, I think the fair has done her in. Monday, naps were back in our schedule. Monday and Tuesday, she complained about a headache, so we should have seen it coming. But boy did it come on fast. Why do kid’s illnesses always come on the weekend or in the evening? She’ll have to ride out the night with the help of Advil until I can call the doctor tomorrow.
I know DD loves me, but there are times that I think that she is sick of me. Somehow I appear everywhere. She can’t get away from me. Even when I try to not get involved, it happens anyway. Today at her first class of confirmation, I was tapped to teach next week because our minister and the regular helper cannot. So a deacon and I are going to give the class.
Poor DD – It is like mom will never go away. I hope at least with this entry, she will know that I love her and apologize for always being like a shadow. She needs to know that her light shines bright enough to overpower my shade.
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