Monday, February 6, 2012

Cheering on the Pats for The Super Bowl and the Tween Woes


     Actually, I was not very interested. I went up to bed to take a nap and Seth yelled up to me that I was missing it. I came down to see that they were behind. Nothing can compare to my first Super Bowl experience. I was 10, in fifth grade and the Patriots played against the Bears. They got slaughtered and I came down with a horrible fever and illness that evening. I was SOOO excited for that game and they lost. The Super Bowl Shuffle jingle still sticks in my head. So annoying. One of the reasons I am not so into it is that they have been in 4 and won 2 in the last few years. I have this weird belief that everyone should have a chance. So, NY Giants need to let someone else win now. lol
     My kids were a little bit into it. They decorated their faces with my eyeliner. (when I was sleeping) Sam with the classic football black stripes under his eyes. Kailyn with Brady's numbers on her face.  Keira ran around naked, singing her gibberish, while looking at her reflection in the back slider doors.  Dad forgot that he was getting her ready for bed mid changing because he lost focus and started to look at the screen again.  The kids went to bed right after the half time show. Seth could not look at the end. Par for course for him.
     Kailyn went to her second sleepover with just one friend and it was a success. She had a blast. I am SO happy for her in this regard. She now does everything that a normal almost 10 year old does. Her path in life seems to be leaning towards the arts. She loves Ballet, Hip Hop, Tumbling, Cheerleading, Band and anything to do with Art. She also wants to take up chorus again. Her and her friend did all the girly stuff girls that age do and Kailyn reeked of perfume. They joined Sam and his friend to ice skate later in the afternoon. She came home with a ton of posters of popular singers and actors that she plastered all over her walls. I had to go in and negotiate taking half of them down and discuss which ones were the best roll models. This tween thing is hard. I want to shelter her because she is still very young, but I also don't want her to be the odd little girl/big girl out. She already has Type 1 Diabetes to set her apart.
     Everything I did as a kid happens 2 years earlier for girls now.  Sleepovers, boys, clothing, wanting magazines of the cool actors and singers. However, I refuse to let her do things until I feel it is appropriate for her. If a film is PG 13 she is not watching it. She has the ability to read a ton of the young adult novels, including Twilight. I was shocked to not only learn that girls her age were reading it, but that they watched the movies. Nope, not until she is thirteen and in the presence of me. (I hope she does not want to by then though, I can't stand vampires ;) ) There are plenty of novels out there that she can get into that does not envelope her in Vampires and romance. They are starting a book club in our town tomorrow for 4th and 5th grade girls. So, after band, she is heading to the library to get some new age appropriate reading material. Hopefully, it will be fun and challenging. It's going to be hard to be the mean Mom that does not let her go to just any one's house. Hopefully, she will appreciate it when she is my age and does not have a 21 year old because she ended up being one of those girls on the MTV show 16 and pregnant.

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