Emma Turns 13

My baby girl turned 13 today. 

A teenager.  Really?  I am the mom of a teenager.  Oh.My.Gosh.  We are three years away from a driver's license, and five away from graduating high school.  And it's going to come all too soon, isn't it?  Those older moms always tell you that childhood goes by quickly, and when you are in the middle of diaper changes, tantrums, nap schedules, toy dumping, and graffiti artists, you think you are lucky to survive to the time daddy comes home. 

But now, with 13 years of motherhood under my belt, I can echo the chorus: It does go by fast.  I am staring at my daughter who is almost as tall as I am and I am blown away.  She's funny, and smart, and can be wonderfully empathetic and helpful.  When she chooses to be.  She is 13, after all.

She came floating down the stairs this morning from her bedroom, very pleased with the fact that she is officially a teenager.  I think this is a big milestone in her mind, and you could tell she was enjoying the grown-up-sounding-ness of it.

Emma said what she really wanted for her birthday was to watch some PG-13 movies- namely Harry Potter movies.  We've only let the kids watch The Sorcerer's Stone, The Chamber of Secrets, and The Prisoner of Azkaban, and Emma has been dying forever to watch the others.  So I picked Emma up from school at lunch time, and we came home for lunch and a Harry Potter watching marathon.

When everyone had made it home,  Emma pounced on her presents.  

 The Altoids came from Elizabeth.  I think Emma was so excited to eat one, she shoved the whole tin in her mouth.  Or something.

 Annie, Maddie, and Elizabeth drew lots of pictures and wrote lots of notes to Emma.  In fact, they didn't think I decorated enough, so after school while we were waiting for Dad to come home, they taped all kinds of things to the walls for Emma's birthday.

 Annie got this book, written by Emma's principal at the elementary school book swap.  Since I was a helper at the book swap, Annie had me help her find a book that Emma would like.

Miss Book Worm got several books.

 Emma's dinner of choice was crepes and hash browns.  We sang "Happy Birthday" before we were really finished with dinner because Ryan had someplace else he needed to be at 6 pm.

 Mmm... Let's eat cake.