Thursday, August 28, 2008

I am NOT ready

I took the brat to register for school the other day. I was inappropriately excited, and a little sad. My baby girl is growing up. She will be graduating this year from the 8th grade. And I have to admit that the thought of her going to high school makes me wicked nervous (I most certainly DO remember my high school days and to say I was a handful would be the understatement of the em-effing CENTURY).

Anyways, I remember when she was in Kindergarten, and she was broken hearted when she found out that when she graduated to 1st grade, her teacher wasn't going to be there with her. She had a strange affinity for dresses (which she most certainly DID NOT get from me), to the point that when she was 3, she didn't even OWN pants of any kind because she would not wear them. At all. My baby. Weird even then.

Now, she's all jeans, all the time. She gets her period (lucky, LUCKY me). She goes to the movies & the mall with her friends (and a chaperone...she's 12, not 15), and she's got boobs!

But she's somewhere in the middle. Some little girl left, with just enough teenager thrown in to make me want to punch her in the eye sometimes. These last few days, her cousins have been here at the house because, well...because they can be and I'm not back at work yet. I've been listening to them giggle and discuss the Jonas brothers, the twilight movie, and blah blah blah.

This morning, she woke up EXTRA early...and since everyone else was still sleeping, she got in the bed with me and we watched cartoons until we fell back asleep.

This AFTERNOON, she was reading Rolling Stone (The Jo Bros were on the cover) and she says to me:

Brat: Mommy, have you ever played beer pong?
Me: No, I don't like beer THAT much. I don't even know how it's played.
Brat: It's like ping pong, except you put cups on the sides of the ping pong table and you try to get the ball in the cups, and if you do, that person has to drink the beer.
Me (on the inside): WTF?!
Me (on the outside): Well, what the hell?! How do you know that? Aren't you a little YOUNG for drinking games?
Brat: Mommy, I know I'm not old enough to drink. They have a picture of it in the magazine. (Points it out to me)
Me: I have to ask. I don't have time to be taking to you AA meetings. It will interfere with your soccer practice.

I am SO unprepared for this.

20 comments:

Simply Shannon said...

I've always sort of wondered what Beer Pong is (not being much of a drinker myself)...I'm happy to finally have my answer, but a little disturbed that the info came from the mouth of a 12 year old!
I think she'll be ok, but make sure you strap in before you go on your bumpy ride!

Tyne said...

Yikes- I am so not ready for that. I will cling to these my little pony and skid mark in the underwear days!

Carol said...

Oh my goodness. Good luck!

Sounds like life is just gonna get more and more interesting for you.

This was a totally educational post, now we all know what Beer pong is, because clearly before I had zero clue!

mom2natnkatncj said...

Ummm, yeah I'm not ready for that either. Okay, so 3 years I guess to go. Okay, who am I kidding my 9 year old is already starting this kind of stuff. They really need to put the growing up on hold.

Anonymous said...

Meg leaves for college TOMORROW and I am SO NOT READY!

*sigh*

Good luck. And keep the dialogue open. It's sooooo important!

Unknown said...

I loved this post. Loved it.

I can imagine what you are going through and how strange it must be for her to be an almost teenager...

It's true what they say....time goes by fast. Way too fast!

Unknown said...

Beer pong, seriously? I TOTALLY didn't know what that was until I was like at least 14. ; )

Kori said...

Damn. Why didn't they have that game when I was still drinking? I would have rocked at it! And yeah, I get that, the in-bewtween stage-it is bittersweet, for sure.

Anti-Supermom said...

Another thing to add to my growing list of reasons they shouldn't get older.

Can I say good luck?!

Marla said...

pictures... WTF is right... like we need advertising for this???

AngelConradie said...

lol... i so know what you're going through!


ooh, btw, i'm linking you in my international blog day post tomorrow.

carrie said...

I feel your pain.

Mine starts middle school this week and I just want to crawl into a cave and hide until it's over.

Manager Mom said...

What a great post... I felt a moment of "welcome to my future." It's not a deja vu because I haven't experienced it yet. pre-ja vu?

Laural Out Loud said...

Oh good heavens, I'm not ready for that AT ALL. Thank goodness I have a lot longer than you before it all starts to go downhill. And please write about it a lot when it does, so I can learn from you.

wendy said...

Oh. Um...this is NOT what I want to read! They're too young. BUT - I have to say how AWESOME it is that she had that conversation with you. Kudos for keeping those communication lines open. My oldest is 10...soon to be 11 and my baby is nearly 10. UGH!

Anonymous said...

I've never even heard of beer pong. Note to myself, keep Rolling Stone away from my girls.

Tamara said...

I'm here curtesy of Angel's blog day post. Love your blog, and have learnt something new... Beer Pong!

Tam said...

HI just wanted to stop by and visit YOUR blog. I am your Swap Partner! Have a great WEEK! BTW I am ARMY wife....lol

Lump said...

"Some little girl left, with just enough teenager thrown in to make me want to punch her in the eye sometimes."

HA! This is great! Good luck! She is going to be a handful. :)

gina said...

Oh yeah. I was a beer pong CHAMP among other things and now my first DD has begun high school. Fortunately I remember every bit of HS and unfortunately (for her) I am so of the do as I say not as I did variety of parenting. ready or not, here we go...