Yesterday my daughter turned 12. I probably say this in every birthday post, but HOLY COW 12! I officially have a preteen. When she turned 11, it was kind of borderline and I could pretend she wasn’t. Now it’s 12 and there’s no denying the fact. It’s right there in the word PRE-teen; before becoming a teen. This is the last year that could be true, so here we are.
So what is she like?
Did all of my worst fears about preteens suddenly come true? Is she rude and demanding? Or distant and shallow? Has she started using bad language and obsessing about her looks? No! And I’m starting to realize that many of the preteen children I’m getting to hang out with are actually pretty cool too……go figure. Somehow, I have a sweet girl child who loves to craft and create beautiful things with pencils and markers. She IS obsessed with her new Cricut machine (click here if you don’t know what that is). It’s a pretty amazing tool.
She spends hours making beautiful stickers and t-shirts to give away and keep. When I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, she said she wanted me to take her to the craft store and let her ask for anything she wanted. She didn’t say she wanted me to buy her anything she asked for. She just wanted to be allowed to ask. Here’s why that could make sense.
Normally when we shop, I have a very specific list with clear expectations about what we’re buying, and my children are not allowed to ask for anything else. Of course they do, but the policy at the store with mom is that if you ask, it’s an “automatic NO”. So, she wanted to be able to ask for everything she wanted and have a budget for some YESSES. We spent almost 2 hours at the craft store buying everything from Cricut accessories and paper, to tiny glass bottles and jars for decorating and yarn for knitting. It’s was exhausting, but she was delighted and came home with the cutest assortment of stuff I could imagine for a 12 year old girl.
It’s all about the puppies
She has a very severe obsession with dogs. Her little soulmate is Bear, a tiny chihuahua who shakes all time, is afraid of nearly everything, and LOVES Ava. She spends a good amount of her own money on outfits and accessories for him. He has an assortment of winter coats and sweaters, costumes, bowties and onesies. She asks next for a chest of drawers for storing all of his stuff. She also has many doggie t-shirts, stickers, earrings, magnets, calendars, etc. It’s adorable.
Ava writes beautifully. She also loves Shakespeare now that she will be playing Celia in her school’s performance of As You Like It. She hates to brush her hair, but loves to wear earrings shaped like dog paws because she just got her ears RE-pierced. For exercise she climbs, getting her workouts in at the climbing gym surrounded by her dad and a bunch of serious climber men WAY older than she is. She has lots of good friends and ONE very super special friend who she misses now that they go to different schools but still sees AT LEAST once a week.
Ava gets really annoyed with her brother about almost everything, but sometimes remembers to kiss him goodnight very sweetly. She wants to start babysitting but would much rather have lots of pet-sitting jobs. She loves to bake, probably because it means that she gets to eat some sugar. Her sugar obsession is severe. Otherwise she makes pretty healthy food choices, preferring salads to pizza and sushi to chicken nuggets. At her request, we went to a revolving sushi bar for her birthday dinner.
And on top of it all…..
She’s a good student, although she claims to hate math and lectures. She loved reading until she finished the Harry Potter books. After that, she decided that all other books were ruined for her and she gave up reading for many months. I just recently found a series of books “For People who Loved Harry Potter”, and now she loves reading again and begs for quiet moments with her book. She guards her room more carefully now, and sometimes locks her brother out, although he’s figured out how to get the lock open. To solve this problem, her best friend bought her a surveillance camera for her birthday! Now her entryway is well monitored.
I love this big kid that I have. I can just barely rest my chin on the top of her head when she gives me one of her big amazing hugs. She does still ask for lots of hugs, and she loves to snuggle. She’s strong, sensitive, compassionate, kind, has such a strong and secure sense of self, and has such a calming and peaceful energy that she attracts many small children to her fan club. I am so honored to spend life with this person. Keep being amazing, my sweet Ava.
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