I'd like to make a reservation for puberty; party of one, please!

A couple of years back, I either read, or was told, that having a daughter entering puberty can be very distressing to her Mom. What I'm talking about goes beyond dreading the inevitable mood swings, and obsessions with boys. The "real rub" is that for many of us Moms, as our daughters are starting to "come into their own" physically, nature takes us on a journey in the other direction. I even heard this process referred to as a sort of "battle" between Mom and daughter for status as "alpha female" (in the animal kingdom, after all, natural selection favors the young and healthy). As things were pretty status quo around our house back then, I took that in as interesting info to file away for future use. Well, the future is now...

Around here, the last two weeks were very touch-and-go; a lot of temper outbursts, skin eruptions, and foodstuff consumed. All of a sudden, jeans purchased a month ago were getting even snugger than is the "skinny jean" style, and the airbag in the passenger seat was no longer being turned off . The point was finally driven home to me when she dramatically announced that when she jumped up and down, other "things" were "jumping", too. No turning back now....

So, this is where it all starts to get interesting. Some Moms seem to have the "if you can't beat 'em, them join 'em attitudes." These Moms are pretty easy to spot, as they dress as similarly to their daughters as possible. When flipping through Facebook, these are also the Moms who post profile pics of themselves in ultra-revealing clothing (read: bikinis- yes, I have seen two of these already!). Pop culture has even invented a term for this kind of Mom- MILF (I'm not going to say what this means here- if you need to know, go to urbandictionary.com). What a treat for Dad; you get two "teenage girls" instead of one!!

As far as I'm concerned, my daughter's puberty is all hers. I had my "go of it", now it's her turn. She needs me for transportation, sage advice, nagging for homework and drums, healthy meals, and rides to the Gym. She doesn't need to look at me, and feel like I'm trying to morph myself into her. The other day, we were bickering about the fact that I thought her pants looked too "skinny" to be paired with such a close-fitting shirt. She looked at me, in my yoga pants and T (my 'walking uniform' ), and hissed, "You should really do something about your clothes!" When I explained that I am not really into clothes shopping/fashion, a smile crept across her face, and she said enthusiastically, "I can help you with that, Mom!" The simple fact that she knew in her heart that I would not try to de-throne her as the resident "teenager" led to a pretty cool bonding moment.

As the only kid in our family, she will be "dining" solo at the Puberty Cafe. I will not be sampling all of the different items on the menu with her. She will have to be prepared to independently "pay" for the selections that she makes. You can count on the fact, however, that I'll be there to be her 'designated driver', to make sure that she's safe and sound during the journey.