Thursday, January 08, 2009

A Teenager At Last!


My baby turns 13 at 10:31 tomorrow morning. It seems hard to fathom that 13 years have flown by in what seems like just a blink of an eye. It seems like yesterday that she was a newborn. How fast it has gone!

I've always said that Offspring seems to be ahead of the curve -- she met a lot of milestones early, and she's been early with most things since -- and we started the teen years, attitude-wise, at about 11 and a half. But, now it's really here. 13. Wow.

She's not a baby anymore, and hasn't been for quite some time. We tease her about stuff she used to do back when she "was cute" or back when she "used to love us", but the truth is we still think she's pretty darn cute, and even if she doesn't like us much every now and then, I'm pretty sure she still loves us. Of course, this picture shows that sullen, "WHAT?!?" side of her, but you know what I mean. I chose this picture because it's the most recent that isn't from so far away.

She's changed a lot from the clingy toddler that she used to be. I no longer have to pry myself away from her; instead, I have to beg her to tell me something, ANYTHING, about her life. I have to wheedle more than the standard "nothin' much" out of her when I ask what happened at school. Much like most parents of teenagers, I would assume.

I often bug her, and embarrass her endlessly when I act in a way that is not Offspring-approved in front of her friends. In fact, just to bedevil her, when she says "Don't touch me.", that sparks off a furious round of me touching her as many times as I can before she goes all Norman Bates on me. Usually while I say, "Touch, touch, touch...." in a monotone voice, which irritates the ears as well as all the places I've poked.

She may be moody and tempermental, but she's all mine. Happy birthday, baby! Now go out and get a job before you nickel-and-dime me to death!

Seriously, though -- I love you. Happy Birthday.

5 comments:

Marni said...

Happy b-day, Offspring! You ROCK!

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to the newly minted teen! It might be years before she admits it, but I bet she's well aware of what a lucky kid she is to have you for her mom! (And JF for a dad!)

Jenevieve said...

Happy Birthday, Offspring! Love that pic-- so classic. Well, if you need to ship her off to spare your sanity, I'd gladly trade you for an adorable, loving, manic toddler who'd LOVE to tell you about his day, especially between the hours of 3 and 5am. Deal?

Miche said...

Happy belated birthday!

Anonymous said...

Happy Bday!! My-- what a milestone, many more to come.

My 15 yo went on her first date Fri. nite. Of course, hubby and I went with her-- just to the same movie at the same time. But we were joking about "saving" the moment -- photographing everything-- now wait a minute, do that hug thing again-- oops, I didn't get that! Yall stand over there by the concession guy, let's get a photo of yall holding up the tickets!! OMG-- she would be sooo embarrassed, and the guy would NEVER see her again! Hey-- that's not a bad idea???hummmm??? Tina