As of today, I officially have two teenagers living at home. Now, it’s not like Malia hasn’t been walking the walk and talking the talk of a teenager for over a year now, it’s just that she now has the appropriate number to support her behavior. Today is her thirteenth birthday and her second day of school as an 8th grader.
Malia doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, so when she selected her birthday treat for our last extended family dinner, she didn’t even want us to sing to her. There was an impromptu chorus because that’s how my family is, but no candles or anything. So it was much to her embarrassment that the choir teacher made her wear a glittery gold birthday hat and sit in the teacher chair while the remainder of the class sang the birthday song to her today. And to her further chagrin, one of her friends told their bus driver it was her birthday, so she got serenaded again on the way home from school. I tried to convince her that it is all for the good because it means there are people in her life that care, but she would much rather have them care a bit more privately. 😂
Dinner was Malia’s favorite, spaghetti and roasted asparagus, followed by a big pan of chocolate chip cookie bars in lieu of cake. Malia did acquiesce and allowed Kevin and I to light a candle and sing to her, after which she made her cookies into a gigantic ice cream sandwich. And I do mean GIGANTIC. Biggest ice cream sandwich I’ve ever seen. She could barely fit her mouth around it. But it was tasty. 😋
Malia’s presents this year were pretty minimal as when asked, she had no idea what she wanted, and we really had no idea either. She got a brand-new copy of the first Wings of Fire book since her original one got wet and any bookworm knows that once wet, books just never recover. She also got some earrings, an assortment of Harry Potter water bottle stickers, and the promise of some new Vans, the slip-on ones she just discovered, for those times when she doesn’t want to take the time to lace up her high-top Converse. She also received several fun, thoughtful gifts from friends which made her so very happy.
Our post birthday treat activity this evening needs just a bit of an introduction. Malia just finished reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. She plowed her way through all seven of the Harry Potter books in the two weeks before school started and then dug into Twilight only because a friend of hers is reading them and wants Malia to read them with her. Probably so she has someone to talk to about said books. Now, I enjoy the Twilight books. Having said that, I have no illusions about the quality of afore mentioned books. They are somewhat lacking in literary merit, but sometimes vapid teenage chick lit is exactly what I’m in the mood for and these books definitely fit the bill. So, I warned Malia before she ever started not to have any grand expectations. Even such, there has been much groaning, rolling of eyes, and yelling at Bella for being so, so stupid. Because she really isn’t the brightest literary heroine I’ve ever encountered. As Malia has worked her way into New Moon though, it has given us a great opportunity to talk about how no teenage boy is worth basically giving up your life for. Seriously, don’t check out just because your latest heart throb doesn’t turn out to be your perfect prince charming.
Anyway, back to the whole birthday bit. After our little festivities, we celebrated our new paradigm of mother and teenage daughter by watching the Twilight movie. I warned her about that one as well. Not only is book Bella so, so stupid, but the whole movie is so, so, so stupid. Seriously. But it was far more entertaining to watch in an environment where we could make all the wise cracks we wanted without getting kicked out of the theater. We laughed. Often. And hard. Dumb movies are always more fun when watched with company. And at the end, Malia made the comment that those two hours were ones she could never get back…always the hallmark of a terrible flick. The last one I really felt that way about was the movie version of Ella Enchanted. That one was so dumb that I couldn’t even find anything to laugh about. 😜
Overall, I think Malia had a good day. If it weren’t only the second day of school and if she weren’t one of the only 8th graders in concert choir (which is predominantly 9th graders), I think that even that portion of the day would have been alright. Unfortunately for her, she is always going to be the kid whose birthday falls first in the school year. 😜 Also unfortunately for her, I’m really tempted to rent the remainder of the movies in the Twilight series, which I have never seen, and make her watch them with me. I’ve never had much of a desire to watch them, but this could be an entertaining experience if we tackle them together. 😆
Malia has grown up a lot in the past year. She has had some challenges and has learned a lot from them. She is becoming more comfortable with who she is and that has been good to see. I hope the next year will see her become a bit more confident in herself, a bit more able to adapt to different situations, a bit more willing to face hard things head on, and a bit more resilient when faced with challenges. But these are big life lessons, ones that I’m still working on. Hopefully I will be able to help her learn them as well.
And as a parting thought related to having a growing daughter, Malia is definitely taller than I am and definitely takes the opportunity to share that fact as often as possible!
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