We Shall Worry Together

I was out of town for work a few days last week, so basically don't expect Mila to take her eyes off of me anytime soon. She's in full-on MOOOOOMMMMYYYYYY Mode and I expect she'll stay that way right up until I leave town again for work in a few weeks.

Sorry, kid.

In the meantime, that means things like her sister having a birthday party at a hotel are a group event. If I'm going, Mila is going. That's just how it's going to be. So, while it would have been nice to focus 100% on Alexis during the entirety of her party, Mila. Oh, Mila.

The good news is that it just so happens that 6th grader girls loooooooove 3-year olds. The party participants were more than willing to blatantly fight over who got to hold or play with Mila. Mila, of course, thought that was the greatest thing ever. It was so great that she almost forgot she was there to make sure I didn't leave again. Almost.

Alexis, on the other hand. Of course she wanted it to be her day, which is easier to do when there's not a cute little distraction around. I thought she was jealous of the attention her little sister was getting, so I went to effort to fix the problem. I snagged a Mila, redirected some people, and lavished Alexis with attention.

That wasn't the problem.

It turns out that Alexis has had the same nightmare a whole bunch of times. The nightmare involves Mila in a pool and doesn't end well. The girls happened to be swimming when I sensed a disruption in the universe, but it didn't get better because, "MOM, I NEED TO HOLD MILA WHEN SHE'S IN THE POOL. WHY DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND?"

So ... there's a lesson in there and I think it might be something about weird worrying being hereditary. Not that I'm confessing to anything or anything, but there's a reason I'm the only one allowed to push the stroller down a hill if Mila is sitting in said stroller.

Advantage me, though. Mila will outgrow the stroller stage. Alexis is stuck worrying about pools FOREVER.

Twelve Starts with a Bang

In pondering what I would write to sum up who Alexis is as she enjoys her first day as a twelve-year old, it occurred to me that describing the shenanigans that led up to her party sums it up perfectly.

This kid. This kid started planning for her 12th birthday party right around kindergarten because of course she did. She spends every minute of every day worried about tomorrow and trying to do things that will make it better. But as the weeks turned into years and the countdown reached Birthday o'Clock, Alexis froze. She wasn't sure what to do.

All of the plans she had made were in doubt.

So, she started over. She started with a new plan and then another plan and then another one because all of the things seemed to get in the way. She wanted a big party but a small one but WHAT SHOULD I DO, MOM? The main thing that stressed her out was wanting to invite all of the people. She doesn't care what other people think but she wants to make all of the people happy and have I mentioned that her career assessment at school came back "politician?" Because hahahahahaha ... yes. That's exactly it. She wants to make the world a better place but hasn't figured out how to do that while also making everyone happy.

(A hint for future Alexis -- money destroys good intentions. Try to look past the money.)

ANYWAY. A plan was still not in place a week ago, so I looked the kid in the eye and said, "Tell me what we're doing. Now. Go."

She replied, "Mommyyyyy, decide for me!"

Normally I would be all in on the making the kid be independent and make a decision and all of that, but she is undoubtedly the strongest and most independent person I know, so screw that. Everyone gets to call for an assist once in a while. Knowing when to ask for help is a skill unto itself.

I booked two rooms at a hotel, handed the kid 10 invitations, and said, "Work it out."

And she did.

There was swimming and manicures and pizza and games and talking. Sooooo much talking. All of the talking. Have I mentioned that my ears still hurt? Because my ears still hurt. Ten sixth graders can make an amazing amount of noise, even when they're doing their best to be quiet. Fortunately, Alexis collects good people, so while an entire night locked in a hotel with that many tween girls could have been awful, it was actually fine. Fun, even.

(Shhhhh! Don't tell the girls I had fun! They will expect me to be nice more often and we can't have that.) (Especially because it turns out that all tween girls are slobs and ARGH. CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELVES. ESPECIALLY YOU, ALEXIS.)

Alexis agreed with that "fun" assessment. She declared as we were driving away from the hotel this morning, "That was SUCH a good party."

You're welcome, kid. Welcome to twelve. I hope it's your best year yet.

And Twelve