Happy Sweet 16!!!
For some reason I am perfectly fine with my oldest child growing up. He is 17. He is in college. He is never rarely home. He is out conquering the world and working like a dog to make his dreams come true.
I fully expect him to leave the nest, spread his wings, and fly… And I’m capable of dealing. Kinda.
My daughters are another story entirely. No, they aren’t allowed to move out. No, they aren’t allowed to date. No, they aren’t allowed to ever leave me.
I’m kidding.
Unfortunately, no matter how badly it breaks their mother’s hearts, kids will grow up.
My oldest daughter is 16 years old today. She had a Sweet 16 celebration 2 weeks ago when our entire family was in town for Thanksgiving. It was a wonderful night filled with loud music and terrible amazing karaoke.
I highly recommend getting your entire family together and providing karaoke. It will probably be a night no one will forget. At least it was for us.
The evening was a blast. We celebrated this cute girl and she had a night she will remember the rest of her life.
Since this was her big debut as a young lady and I have another daughter right on her bootstraps, I was thinking about the past few years of… change.
Can we talk about puberty for just a minute?
In this house someone has been going into or out of puberty for the past 6 years straight, myself included.
My son was the first, being the oldest. It was basically uneventful and my husband dealt with most of the details surrounding that event.
The 2 girls were next and it was significantly more monumentous.
Two teenage daughters going through puberty back to back has its benefits and its drawbacks.
It’s great because they have someone to talk to as they transform from caterpillars into butterflies. It’s terrible because you have to live with 2 moody, mouthy teenage girls.
I’m one of those moms who talks about anything and everything; There is no subject too sacred. If you want to talk – I’m here for you. Anything goes. Got questions? I got answers.
When my first daughter approached the age of transformation we spent the afternoon together. Just mommy and daughter. We did all the things mommys and daughters must do during these treasured occasions. We had coffee. We ate food. We shopped for bras, talked about hair that grows in weird places and learned what tampons are for.
It was a beautiful day filled with shock and awkwardness.
I don’t want any of my kids being blindsided with some sort of unexpected puberty crisis. I want them to know what’s coming and be prepared. I know that sometimes these things sneak up on us and life doesn’t always cooperate, but if at all possible, I want my kids to be braced for the brutal realities of puberty.
My oldest daughter was NO FUN to walk this walk with. As I explained the details of becoming a woman and ovulation and love to her. she had one question:
“Mom, are you done yet?”
When I explained how her body would be changing and developing and blossoming she had one question:
“Are you done now?”
At the end of our day when I asked her if she had any questions for me she said:
“Is this over? Can we talk about something else?”
No fun.
My second daughter was much more entertaining to walk through the hills and valleys of “coming of age.”
Our mommy-daughter chats about womanhood were the complete opposite. We also spent an entire day celebrating womanhood, shopping for bras and talking about tampons. She wanted to know everything. She wanted details. She had questions. She couldn’t get enough. She was hilarious.
After the initial overview the conversations got even better as the effects of puberty took their hold on her little body. She is named after her Uncle, but many of us often call her “KK” for short.
I must say that my 16 year old and I may be taking too much enjoyment in KK’s suffering puberty. She is very vocal about all the changes going on. Whether we want them or not, we get regular updates concerning KK’s bodily status and ever-changing appearance.
Here’s a couple of highlights:
Part of the pubescent speech I give on our special mommy-daughter day includes new hair growth and how to use a razor. This is quite important whether you are a girl or a boy. I think us females have it the worst when it comes to shaving.
Last spring, we had plans to go to the pool. My newly developing young butterfly needed to do some grooming before adorning her swim suit. She had been putting off the dreaded (hair removal) event all winter but spring had arrived and thanks to puberty she was going to have to embrace the razor or wear a scuba suit. I handed over her first razor. I told her how to use it and sent her to the bathroom.
Her younger brother asked why she needed to shave before going to a swimming pool.
She responded with sadness and despair,
“I have hair in terrible places.”
Of course, being the awesome mother I am, I stopped laughing, regained my composure, and gave her some encouraging words:
I told her she was turning into a woman.
She said she was turning into a little black bear.
I told her she was blossoming.
She said she was mutating.
I told her she was becoming a young lady.
She said she was turning into a Teenage Mutant Ninja KK.
I laughed some more and told her to go shave.
As the teenage girls are going through adventures in ovulation and such things the boys are enjoying their own pubescent nightmares as they move into young adult-hood.
My daughters are always being asked if they have a boyfriend. I don’t know why. Family, friends, random customers at the pawnshop…
After they meet kids the first question is “How old are you?”
Followed by, “What grade are you in?” (by the way home-schooled kids never know the answer to this question)
And the last question is always, “Do you have a boyfriend?”
I have no idea why everyone wants to know if my teenage daughters have boyfriends.
My daughters usually make weird faces and say, “no.”
One dude actually asked them why they didn’t have boyfriends and I’ll never forget what my 16 year old said to him…..
“All the boys my age have braces, acne, bad hair and they’re short.”
The end.
I will leave you with one more thought from this fantastic 16 year old who makes me laugh every day…..
There was a conversation in my kitchen not too long ago debating which was harder: being a guy or being a girl.
My 16 year old ended the deliberation with the winning closure:
“Guys have it easy. You all have no idea how hard it is to be a girl. I have to fight WW3 in my pants every month.”
Happy 16th Birthday, Sweetie, I love you so much!
XO,
Mommy
