Mini me

My daughter is exactly like me. Except that she has blond hair. And blue eyes. And hates chocolate. But other than that, she's exactly like me.

So what's with all the emotion? I mean I don't cry over every little thing. Just ask hubby. And I certainly don't get upset for no good reason. They are all perfectly good reasons.

I was under the impression that hormones would not kick in until the teen years. Um, yeah, about that. Welcome to the "tween" years. That strange world between little girl and adolescence when everything is a huge deal and phrases like "UG, boys are so weird!" are uttered. The same boys that are so weird are also the ones being talked about continuously. Allow me give you a visual.

"S* is so weird mom. He follows me everywhere and his spies are always trying to get my phone number for him, but I'm like, NO, I'm only ten! So then they're like, why not and I'm like, hello, go tell him I said no. He's so weird. And B and A say the weirdest things and they chase me all over. They think I like them but I don't, they're weird. But they seriously chase me all over. I can't even get away from them at recess. C is really nice, but he doesn't chase me. A and B are so weird!"

*Names have been altered to protect the innocent.

Things can escalate from calm, sweet and helpful to I'm-going-to-kill-my-brother-if-he-even-thinks-about-entering-my-room. Picking out clothes in the morning can put her dangerously close to a freak out {especially if I'm involved} and when asked what she wants for Christmas she replies "I only want clothes and or accessories or both. Mostly both." My baby is growing up! She no longer wants anything to do with dolls and her Disney princess posters have been replaced with High School Musical paraphernalia. Zac Efron and Taylor Launter are now way more interesting than Dora and she only likes pink when it's bright and mixed with black.

A phrase we hear often is "I'm just feeling a little emotional right now". I've taught her to give us all fair warning. I have to do this as well. I find it makes those "holy crap, run for the hills, she's lost her mind to mad cow disease" times a little easier to understand and handle. I figure by the time my boys start dating they will have a firm grasp of the wide range of female emotions and will be able to fully cope. Or they will choose a life of celibacy and join a monastery. But I'm hopeful for the former.

I'm pretty sure God knew that hubby and boys could only handle two women in the house, therefore only giving us one daughter. Which is fine with me because our mommy-daughter dates rock. Aside from my mom, she's the only one who likes to watch Seven Brides for Seven Brothers with me and likes chips and salsa almost as much as I do. And I'm confident that we'll navigate through the tween and teen years with little or no permanent damage done. I'm just not looking forward to the day when boys aren't so weird anymore. I'd like to keep her a mini as long as possible.