The Teen Years

I'm a little terrified but cautiously optimistic.  Isa is a dream come true and has been for years as a child.  People telling me I'm about to enter the worst of it, but to this point her teen outbursts have been crying, which I will take over hostility or moodiness.  Most often that crying is linked to tiredness and so she and I have learned to just drop everything and sleep.  I wholeheartedly support that notion - school, chores, and instruments are promptly relegated to the back burner.

In addition, I have tried to actively combat some of the things people have warned me about by building our relationship tons and by actively making her friends my friends.  So we started a tradition of mother/daughter {I have been specifically forbidden to call them mommy/daughter}game nights.  We have a group of her friends over with their moms.  We play games, talk, eat and laugh.  She has great friends and I want her to continue to make and forge healthy relationships and I like the moms too.

These girls are kooky, crazy and just perfect for us.