Sunday, March 21, 2010

Becoming the Mother of a Teenager

Yes, its true. My oldest child is days away from official teenage-hood. She will be 13 in just a few days. Wow. This is bigger than was turning 40. The cogs in the wheel of time are cranking along, just as they always have- only I'm more aware of them these days.

What does a just-about-to-turn-13 year old girl want for her birthday?

This (which she got today from her sister and brother):


His name is Moo-Meister.

and this:

She learned to play guitar (using my acoustic) this year through her school's music program. The electric guitar has been on her wish list for several months. It came with an amp... and I hope I don't live to regret that fact! She's been playing piano for about 6 years, and she has an awesome ear, so at least we can expect the sounds coming out of the amp to be pretty good. Yikes.

What can I say? She's a pretty cool kid. She's musical, athletic, and will take on any challenge that interests her.

She also wants to make her own... get this... three-layer birthday cake for her party next Saturday! We've made a visit to Bulk Barn already to see what size pans we could rent, and she's decided to use both fondant and buttercream icing on the top. Here's the idea for the top layer:

SO, given that I am *not* anyway talented with cake decorating, this should be an interesting experience. My neighbour up the street is a professional cake decorator, so if we run into trouble, I can use the "call-a-friend" lifeline!

I'm really delighted and profoundly grateful that I have this child, becoming a young woman, who is so willing to take risks and just do things without hesitation.

The child teaches the parent, indeed.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Happy birthday to your oldest. I hope she has a great birthday and good luck on the cake. She sounds like an amazing girl.