ALL GROWN UP

Seriously, where has the time gone?

[Ava at Larkin on bring a friend to dance night with Emily, Allison, Lauren and Savannah]

Ava is growing up so fast my head is spinning. She isn't a little girl anymore. She is slowly morphing into a young lady - which is, don't get me wrong a great thing to witness, but it is also not so much fun. With this growth comes the back talk, the the "can you please buy me that Justin Beiber shirt? Pleeease? Emily has it, and I want it too!" the "I want the real Twinkle Toes shoes, not the fake kind Mom." the "so and so has that and I have to have it to - if I don't have it I will just die!" the "when do I get a cell phone? Chad at the bus stop has one." And I get these little gems too - "I hate you, you are the worst Mom in the world", the "when can I start shaving my legs? the "When did you start wearing deoderant?" the "Mom, how do babies really come out of your belly?" You know, the whole I -want- you- to- buy- me- everything- I- want-and- I- want- you- to- let- me- do- what- I- want- when- I- want- because- I- don't- get- the- whole- concept- of- money- and- I- don't- get- the- word- NO thing?

I deal with it all, give her the time outs when needed, sit her down and try to explain to her that money doesn't grow on trees and I give her the we-don't-always-get-what-we-want speech. I do all of this while taking comfort in the fact that all little girls go through a stage such as this, and that one day these things I tell her over and over again will click, and she will get it. I know she will, as I did. It may have taken me a while to get there, but I got it.

Anyway.....All of this came to mind from looking at the picture above, as it reminded me of the argument we had about her dance attire right before she left that night. She had decided that she no longer wanted to wear her leotard to dance.

Why don't you want to wear your leotard?
Because.
Because why?
Because Lauren doesn't wear hers anymore.
So what?
Only the little girls wear leotards Mom!
Well what does Lauren and the big girls wear?
They wear the booty shorts and a t-shirt. But you need to scrunch up the t-shirt in the back and tie it so that it is nice and tight.

Lord help me.

My 7 year old wants to dress like one of the 15 year old dancers. Problem is, she is not 15.
First it was the booty shorts in lieu of the sweet skirt, now it is the t-shirt tied up in the back in lieu of the leotard. What next?

My Mom summed up this whole raising a daughter thing so well years ago, when I was just a mouthy teenager without a care in the world. She told me, "You just wait until you have your own Maria. You just wait."

Years later, as I sit here with two daughters of my own, I laugh at the fact that I had no idea what she was talking about at the time. Now? I understand.

Boy, do I ever understand.