As she's reading things from this book, it's explaining how as she starts puberty she will begin to grow hair under her arms, leg hair will get darker/thicker and she'll get hair in the nether-regions. Hmmm.....man, that sounds fun, right? Now you get to shave your armpits, legs and make sure that your bikini line is trimmed. Fun, fun! Then it goes into how without exercise and good nutrition she could gain weight more easily. Again, what a blessing it is to be so thin and then realize that now that your a WOMAN you can get fat much, much easier. Still reaching here for something that makes her glad she's going to be starting her period! She reads me a piece about how your skin and hair gets oily.....come on! I know the purpose of the book, but you HAVE to give this kid something that is going to excite her going through all these changes. Tell her that she will be able to have xray vision or something! So, basically she has hair she doesn't want, she can get fat more easily, she's going to be oily and greasy, AND she will be moody and cry at the drop of a hat. Wow......sounds like something I wish I could relive over and over again. Slowly the reality of what is about to happen is sinking in and by bedtime i'm rolling around anticipating a lot of challenges I thought I was prepared for because let's face it, i've done it, but trying to convince her that i'm here for her, and that we can talk about this stuff because I have been through it, just is not somewhere she wants to go.......at least not yet.
This leads me to a funny story that i've shared with some of my gal friends before....again, if your a man and your still reading then your a glutton and I have no sympathy for you. When I was 14 my girlfriend and I had planned this great day at BIG SPLASH!!! You know, when Big Splash was so awesome and as a pre-teen girl you could go there without your parents staying and run around all thin and cute in your little bikini and check out all the boys. Well, the day before we were to go, I started my period. Now what? There was no way we could cancel, I mean that would be the biggest disappointment of the year. So, she and I walked to the Walgreens down the street to buy my first box of tampons. There was a boy checker, so I had to go find a woman to ring me up because it was just TOO devastating to do that in front of a boy!!! I take my box to the bathroom and begin to read the instructions. Looking back on this moment makes me smile, but as i'm reading how I need to lay on the floor, put my leg up on the tub or toilet, turn my head to the right, close one eye, you get my drift here, right? As this is going on and I am totally freaked out, my mom is knocking on the door to see if I need "help". Really? Help? Yes mom, come in and look at me naked and help me put in this tampon. I know now as a mom who is soon to face such challenges that she was probably as lost as I currently am and just wanted to help me make it through this whole transition. Somehow, I got it to work and Big Splash here we come. Spent the day at Big Splash, and when it was time to get out of the wet clothes, I could not wait to take this thing OUT. But, I could not find the string. Being in the water it had washed up my crack, and I wasn't searching for it so I thought it had fallen out in the pool somewhere. I was mortified!!! My tampon was swishing back and forth in the wave pool and someone would find it and they would somehow KNOW it was me. Later in the day of course the string appeared and I could squash all of these really stupid thoughts, but hey..when your 14, what do you know? No one told me it couldn't fall out! Now, I think about those directions on how to use it and laugh hysterically.......
So, I guess i'm about to be on an interesting ride and i'm hoping that my kiddo as she transitions realizes somehow that becoming a woman IS a good thing, although i'm not sure why just yet other than the fact that you have now come into your ability to torture men and get what you want. HA!
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