Sunday, April 21, 2013

I have a teenager!




Yes, that's an exclamation point.
A happy one.

Thing 1 can often be found reading and/or writing
I know a lot of people hate teenagers,
but I am not one of them.

I liked being one.
I enjoy hanging out with them.
I love when they come over.

Thing 1 and her BFF listening to an iPod together
I think teenagers get a bad rap.
I could have a house full of them.

Out for sushi for Thing 1's birthday
I genuinely like teenagers.

While I know a lot of parents
 dread the teenage years,
I haven't ever felt that way.

Ack! She's taller than I am!
My oldest has joined the ranks
 - she's 13!
A teenager.
I love it and I love her.

I'll do a post soon about her birthday
 and her birthday party.
Snuggling with her Daddy (and Menedy)

For now I want to share something fun
 we're doing to celebrate her turning 13.

Every Saturday night,
my teenage daughter and I
watch a bunch of "Gilmore Girls" together
while eating all kinds of fun foods
(you kind of can't help it - 
it's a side effect of watching the show).

Snuggling with my girl!
We started our fun Saturday night tradition yesterday.
We watched 4 episodes of Gilmore Girls
while enjoying milkshakes, cheeseburgers, and fries.
Thing 1 and sweet Scout
My daughter is fun and smart
 and funny and kind and witty.
She's all that and much more.
And I love hanging out with her.
Beautiful girl

We really, really like
 our Saturday nights together. 
(And yes, I got choked up during
 the opening sequence song).

I have a teenager!

15 comments:

Jagged Rocks said...

I am going to be very honest. Teenagers sound much easier to handle than my toddler. I look forward to when Little Miss is that old.

Dr. Mark said...

Teenagers are great in general, and we have one awesome teen! I was a little jealous that you two get to watch "Gilmore Girls," but watching "Star Wars" with Thing 2 is pretty awesome, too! Plus, we ALL got to eat cheeseburgers!

LMW said...

I share the Gilmore Girls love! Happy birthday to your teen girl.:)

The Magic Violinist said...

Aww, thanks for the post! :D I'm excited to watch more "Gilmore Girls"!

Dave Johnson said...

You're going to love GG, Kate. Also, you are The Awesome Juice.

Dave Johnson said...

Mark - Rich and I are watching the old Mission Impossible series on and off. He LOVES it. Also, Dr. Who on netflix is pretty cool (and relatively safe - though I bit tense at times).

Emily said...

Oh my gosh, seriously? Happy Birthday Kate!!!

Boquinha said...

Thanks, all! Nice to hear from you again, LMW! :) So glad to have you aboard.

Our kids are loving our Saturday nights together (and we are, too)!

Kim, enjoy every stage - they're all wonderful in their own ways, but yeah, for me teenagers/older kids are much easier than the toddler years. I think every passing year gets easier.

I am not at all perfect nor do I have all the answers (isn't that freeing?!?), but I think the #1 thing that helps me personally as a parent is trying to put myself in my kids' shoes - saying "no" less and saying "yes" more (half the time I knee-jerk say "no," when I stop to recognize it, it's more about me feeling in control than about actually having a good reason, so I try to ease up since that's a pretty lousy "reason" and more about my own issues anyway), treating them the way I'd want to be treated if I were in their shoes, etc. It helps me gain perspective.

So many parents are into control and being right and obeyed. I don't think those things are necessary to raising great kids.

I think it's trickier with toddlers, because they're learning to assert themselves (which is good) while you're teaching them to temper that (which is also good) and keeping them safe; and, reasoning with a toddler, well, they're not there yet, you know? So that can be frustrating. Hang in there. Enjoy her. It gets easier. :)

LMW said...

Thanks to both you and Dr. Mark for making me feel welcome.:) Even though I may not comment much, I'm reading and I've been reading for awhile. Actually, I found you from Emily's blog, which I used to regularly read until it went private.:)

Boquinha said...

You're welcome. I'm really glad you're here.

I'd love to know more about you (if you feel comfortable - if not, totally cool, too - no worries). Do you know Emily in real life? Jimmy found us years ago via Emily's blog, too, and we've become really good friends. I love the blogging world . . .

LMW said...

No, I don't know Emily. I found her blog through I can't remember where at this point. I'd love to get to know you guys too, though I'm not particularly comfortable revealing details out here on the blog. Maybe through emails?

LMW said...

Some things I will publicly reveal about myself though are: I love Gilmore Girls, the Friends series, sushi, and pizza.:)

Boquinha said...

Hi LMW! So sorry for the delay - we've been out of town. I'd love to get to know you better and I appreciate your concern about privacy - totally get and respect that. Email would be great. Mine is boquinha AT gmail DOT com. Looking forward to hearing from you!

J Fo said...

Okay, so I'm a big huge jerk and have totally neglected the Blog world, which means I am so out of touch with everyone! Now that we're out of Vernal and I promise I'll pop in more! BUT I HAD TO COMMENT On THIS....I love that girl! I'm so proud of the amazing young woman that you have and I CANNOT believe that she's 13! I hope it was a great birthday for her! I love your comment about teenagers versus toddlers because it is so true! I had a grand old time teaching teenagers, and I was an easy teen (I think), but man, this 2 year old in my life is kicking my trash! ;) I think each phase has wonderful things and I am honestly SO glad to be able to be home with my girlies more before they turn into teenagers overnight. Love you all!

Boquinha said...

Jessica! I've missed you on here!! So happy to see you!! Thank you for this comment. :)

(Go figure that you and I feel similarly about that) . . . :P