Attack of the hormones

Don't you sometimes wish your kids would stop growing old so they would be cute forever? That time comes usually when your kids reach 5 to 6 yrs, the age when they perform song and dance numbers for you on a whim, when they give you drawings of you and mom with an accompanying "i love you" scribbled below, and when you ask them to fetch you a Coke from the ref or give you a back rub they would do so with nary a complaint - totally adorable!

Sadly, if that were the case, our walls would be permanently marked with doodles, and the world's supply of McDonald's Chicken Nuggets and Fries would run out.  So to preserve the balance of the life as it were, God chose for our kids to grow up, which is exactly what my daughter Camy is doing at the moment.

I remember when I would lightly toss her above my head (not too high, of course) and catch her on the way down, which made her squeal with delight.  Now just lifting her would put me in traction.  The cute wrestling matches I had with her before...she now wins.  And never in my wildest dreams would I have thought that my own flesh and blood, the most wonderful thing to have come into my life, would be sprouting, God forbid, a butt.  These and a whole lot of physical transformations are happening to my baby at a such a rapid pace, I wouldn't be surprised if she grew a beard.

From a little angel...

...to a budding hot mama. 

As the physical changes and the speed in which they occur surprise me, it's the transformation of her mental faculties that leave me scratching my head.  For one, she seems more...mature now.  She wants privacy when she dresses up, doesn't watch too much cartoons anymore (except Spongebob Squarepants) and wants to buy shoes, lots of them.  She now also talks like a young adult, meaning she utters phrases such as "I know, right?" and ends her every sentence with "ish".  She also reads the popular online acronym 'lol' (laugh out loud) as one word.  A typical conversation would go like this:

Me: "How was school?"
She: "Oh, fine..ish."
Me:  "That's good."
She:  "I know, right?"
Me:  "Your sister wrote on the walls again."
She: "lol"

Say goodbye to long, meaningful conversations.

Not to say that our love for her has dwindled one bit.  It's just that as parents, we just have to give her a little leeway and let her deal with those extra hormones and accept the fact that we shall be dealing with a whole new set of problems now - from diapers, toys and making a mess, to grades, looks, and (sigh) boys.

Although, she's growing up to be a smart, fine-looking lady (with quirks, of course), I sometimes miss hearing her 'baby' voice and the time when she would sit on my lap while I was typing at the computer.  In other words, when she was...'cute'.

But the good news is...I have a spare :-)