My daughter is beautiful, there is no denying that, both inside and out. She has just enough confidence with her appearance to be happy, yet not arrogant. She is incredibly caring and we have taught her the importance of being strong, kind and intelligent before anything else, stressing that it will get her much further in life. Sometimes hard to convince your child though, with the "role models" kids are exposed to these days. They are basically taught that being beautiful and ignorant can get you pretty much anywhere.

In addition to beautiful, she is also brilliant and I don't use that term lightly. She excels in school and has picked up every musical instrument and sport she has been exposed to. Which honestly is a little shocking to me because she will trip over something, often her own two feet, just walking across the room, but can waterski, play tennis, soccer, sail, dance, all which require some coordination. She is also inquisitive and has an active imagination, which I truly feel plays a pivotal role in a child's level of intelligence. Brilliant.

Oh Bummer, It's Summer

Summer is here and you know what that means? Well, I'll tell you what it means, a whole lot of "Mooommm, I'm bored"s and "Mooommm, I'm hungry"s and I can't for the life of me figure out how the fuck they make it through the whole school year without dying of boredom or starving to death. Because I know for a fact they only get to eat once the whole day and I am pretty sure playing outside  with your neighborhood friends is a whole hell of lot more exciting than sitting behind a little desk for hours at a time and pop quizzes. But somehow or another, they are still bored and hungry.

So now it begins, finding things to keep the little monsters amused. Anything to keep them off the iPads and video games. Summer camps, vacations, movies, the beach, museums, water parks. It's like a god damned olympic sport piecing together a summer schedule for two kids. But, I am for sure going to medal this year. I have a perfect plan mapped out...

Little White Lies

May 1^st was National Honesty Day, the day where a person may ask another person any question they like and that person has to provide a truthful and straightforward answer. Now, I am not sure about you, but this sounds dangerous to me.  Picture it now … “Do these pants make my ass look fat?” You politely, automatically say no, but it’s National Honesty Day and you’re thinking, “The pants have nothing to do with it. Your ass was working alone on this one.” Now, if you say that, being honest, it is likely that you are going to lose a friend or fat ass is going to punch you … hard.

I think little white lies were invented for a really good reason … to save people’s feelings and prevent total chaos in the world. If everyone were completely honest, all of the time, I think friendships would end, relationships would suffer, businesses would fold and the world would probably implode.

My Son likes to Sing “Let It Go” so Let it GO.

My five-year old son has loved the movie Frozen since we first sat down in the theater the day the movie was released. I would venture to say, he loves it even more than my daughter. He was thrilled when it was finally released digitally, so much so we bought the streaming version on Amazon even earlier than the DVD release. Needless to say, my house is a constant echo of “Let It Go” and “Do you Wanna Build a Snowman”, in the hallways, the shower, even with friends in the backyard.  Yet, it is not always my daughter’s voice I hear, mangling the words, it is just as often Ethan’s.

So just the other night in Target, we were standing in an aisle, Ethan was singing the song as he usually does and a man and woman standing next to us kind of chuckled. The woman noted how cute it was, to which the man said, “Yea, because he is only four. It wouldn’t be so cute if he was twelve and still singing it” and he laughed. I, however, did not. (He is five, by the way, jerk-off.)

I've Got a Tween Ache

Tween girls. Well, someone should write a book about this shit. I am sure they have, but unfortunately I am too busy dealing with attitudes and hormones to have time to read the darn thing. My soon to be 10 year old daughter, though beautiful and loving, has slowly started to become what other people have warned me about, but I never believed possible, a pre-teen or tween as they call them now.

Tween, the term used for girls between the ages of 10-12, the preadolescent stage. Tween: termed for that “in between” stage. Tween: too old for toys, too young for boys. More like,  “I like some dude and have lots of attitude.” Tween, the precursor for the dreadful teen years, when boys replace toys and friends are much more important than mom or dad and of course, we could never understand.  Tween: what is staring me right in face

Yesterday my little girl was in pigtails, happily holding my hand when we walked anywhere, everywhere. She still loves to hold my hand, only now, it’s dependent on who is around. I still catch glimpses of that little girl every now and then. I mean, she is only nine after all. She still is my little girl. My little girl in size 7 shoes.

So exactly how do we handle these “tween” years? How do we keep our sweet little girls, sweet, as long as we possibly can? Lock her in a closet? Not legal. Force her to wear dresses with pink polka dots to school every day with a Hello Kitty book bag and matching lunch box? Too far and even I couldn’t stomach that much pink. What to do, what to do?

Well, here’s my plan. I will give her as much love as I can so that she knows that no matter what happens, she can always count on me to be there. I will give her as much guidance as I can so that she knows right from wrong and can make informed choices, but also know that even when she makes the wrong one, I am still there to help pick up the pieces. I will give her the discipline she needs because I am, in fact, her mother first and without discipline, she will never understand consequences for her actions.  I will give her as much freedom to explore as you can possibly, safely, give a tween girl these days so that she can find out who she is and what her boundaries are going to be in this life. I will teach her to have a vision, her own vision, so that she has something to strive for in her life. Finally, I will remind her that no matter what she does in this life, do it with a purpose and with passion so that she will always feels full.

My little “soon-to-be” tween, oh how I love her and want to tape her mouth shut at the same time. But, like all other phases that we have survived, we will survive this one, too. She will test her boundaries (and my patience) and I will love her even when it is hard to like her. She will make me question my parenting skills and bring me to my knees, but in the end, I will always win because that is the best part about being the mom. Ok, so maybe not the best part, but it is pretty dang cool.  I win. The end.