About my mid-life crises starting earlier than planned
Amy is growing up way too fast for my comfort level. She’s almost as tall as me, she eats more than I do, and her shoes are only one size smaller than mine - and I have big feet. For someone who is only 10 (TODAY!) she seems to be maturing too quickly. All this hit home a few months ago when I was helping her wash her hair in the shower. This was before our newfound independence when I still had to make sure she got all the soap out. She had lathered and rinsed and we were waiting for the conditioner to do its job, which takes a few minutes since her hair is very thick. While I was waiting, I noticed a hair hanging down the back of her arm and tried to pull it off only to find that it was attached . . . to her armpit. She screamed, I screamed, and then I aged 10 years on the spot. Why is my (then) nine-year-old producing underarm hair? Not only that, LONG underarm hair and why hadn’t I noticed before? And oh crap, she’d been wearing a sleeveless leotard to dance class and had anyone there seen it? And why didn’t she tell me? And am I the worst mom in the world to not have figured this out before now? Should I have been more aware? I didn’t even know I had to be aware yet. And blar-de-blar-de-blar… Amy was embarrassed and didn’t want to show me again so I waited until she fell asleep and snuck in with a flashlight to peek down the sleeve of her pajamas. I know, sneaky, but I had to KNOW. I had to see what I was dealing with. And yes, underarm hair. Not as long as I’d first thought and not very thick, but still. So the next day we had a talk in which I tried to make it sound like not a big deal even though to me it was a very big deal. And we bought her some Veet which did absolutely nothing so we bought her some razors and now she’s fine and hair-free. For now. And I feel suddenly a lot older. Happy birthday Amy! You’re awesome. I love you!
3 Responses to “About my mid-life crises starting earlier than planned”
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July 28th, 2008 at 3:42 pm
Oh WOW. Ten years? That’s all we get until this stuff starts?! Remember when ten years seemed like a long time? Oye.
Happy birthday Amy!
July 29th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Haha happy birthday Amy! I remember my mum telling me about this sort of stuff happening with me and my sister… I think she was way more traumatised than we were about any changes!
July 29th, 2008 at 11:26 am
You are such a great story teller! Once upon a time all of these children were sweet babes-in-arms…now my oldest is passing the sacrament in church.