Teenagers

I'm having trouble believing that I am now the mom of a teenager. I don't feel old enough to have a teenager.

As much as I would like to get away from the birthday parties, the benefit is that it gives me the opportunity to spend some time with the kids' friends. I really like the group of friends that she has developed over the last couple of years.  There were only a couple of carry-overs from elementary school--most were newly found when she started middle school last year.And there were definitely a couple from elementary school that I wasn't sad to see drift away.  But the girls she hangs out with now all seem like genuinely good kids (and I guess they are, every single one of them was inducted into the National Junior Honor Society along with PS tonight). There was no  drama or over-the-top craziness at her party.  Everyone got along and seemed to have a really good time. 

But even among her friends, PS is different.  They are all still giggly girls who squeal and hug and play with each other's hair and smush together like puppies on the sofa.  That is so not PS. No squealing, no smushing, definitely no hair touching (last year, when she was in cheer, she often complained, "Mom, the cheerleaders keep trying to fix my hair.") She is physically smaller than the rest of them--several inches shorter than most. And they have all started developing while she is not. At all. She doesn't wear make-up or flat iron her hair like the rest. (Is all this because I let her skip a grade and she is the youngest? Maybe. But I think she would still be among the smallest.  And I had no hint of boobs until I turned 16.) But she seems to be doing ok socially, even if she is the most restrained and self-conscious in her group. And I am a-ok with her looking younger if it keeps the boy issues at bay for a while. (Although we did have a boy at the party! Just one--a friend of the entire group.  Definitely no romance issues that I could detect.)

But boy, when I see other kids her age, I start to freak out a little.  At the NJHS induction tonight, several of her classmates looked and dressed like college students.  A few had on skin-tight skirts that barely covered their naughty bits and left me wondering what on earth their mothers were thinking. Several more were wearing heels (that they did not know how to walk in.)  They just all looked to grown up.  And then there was tiny PS.

It will be interesting to see how she changes over the next couple of years.  Will she always be one of those girls who's just not into hair and makeup--or will she grown into it?  And how different will her sisters be?  They are definitely more the huggy, squealy, puppy piling types.