I have a nine year old.
Jun. 2nd, 2009 11:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Nine! How can this be?
Last night the two of us were sitting together at the bar, at Chili's, because the wait for tables was insane and we were trying to catch a movie with little time to spare. So there we sit, with a woman nearby exclaiming how she can't possibly be my daughter, how old is she and how old am I (flashbacks to my own childhood)? And the bartender asking what I'll be eating and then asking her what she'll be eating - and she ordered her own meal with sides? What? So he brings our virgin pina coladas, encrusted with sugar at the top, and I'm watching Ananda in her Dance Empire hoodie licking the sugar off the top and she asks me about Robbie's boyfriend. Because Robbie (my nephew on Grant's side, their cousin) has totally come out. And before I know it I'm telling her how refined my gaydar is, and how Grant and I were not the slightest bit surprised because we've always known, with him.
We went and saw Up, in 3D, after they came and sang to her and delivered molten chocolate cake...and it was great and we both loved it (and I cried at least 3 times - I really had no idea, that movie was fantastic). On the way home it's, "Hey turn on Pink, Mom". She's saving for an iPod? What?
Yeah, I'm confused.
Anyway, she wanted to have a tea party for this birthday. And obviously I have just the Alice in Wonderland supplies to comply.
I got that lace for $2 a yard at Jo-Ann's. Already scalloped along the sides. Aww yeah, baby.

About to start.

Ok, now, pay close attention, I want to point out some differences to you. THIS, is how big girls have a tea party.

(that's Annie, Christina and Grace)
THIS is how big boys have a tea party.

(Darien, with Aaron and Christopher hot on his heels just out of the frame)
And this is how little kids think it should go down.

(Isaac, Brian, Naja)
Although I have to say that before half an hour had passed, only adults were left at the table and all manner of children were running in and out of slamming french doors and squealing and shrieking and eventually sweating through their formal wear ;) They all had a blast.
My friend Kristin was here doing HENNA...there was an instant line.

Aaron wanted "the dark mark" (HP), and after some quick google image searching I think Kristin did a pretty impressive rendition.

While outside with some of the little ones, Grant took this picture of the tree across the street, and how it torments us. This is but a small portion of the tree. The entire thing looks like this, except the lowest branches that have been cleaned out by neighborhood kids

(lychees)
She wanted an ice cream cake.

With colored flame candles.


Her gifts were so cool this year.

Handmade owl from/by Kristin (shown)
lite brite
jewelry making kit
wooden box with painting supplies
Monster Book of Monsters
plush Hedwig (both HP)
two necklaces, one a cross and one filled with dried flowers
fairy ring
owl shirt (she likes owls :p)
GREAT dress from Aunt Laura
devotional journal (from a sweet mom who pulled me aside at the beginning of the party terrified because she'd heard from another kid that we might be Jewish...the funniest part of this is that we were standing by a large painting of Christ when she expressed these concerns, and within 10 feet of a fairly big cross)
and $40 cash, in the form of two twenties in cards from Oma and Nana and Pa, to go in the iPod fund
Nadia had to leave early, and this was hours in, so she is not pictured...

(Christina, Patrice, Grace, Tomara, Ananda)
Naja! And my cat! I swear she is magic (either of them, you pick)

Far later, when everyone had gone home, these guys were sitting and watching movies like zombies. My flash was the only light in the room.

And the next day, on the day, she went in the yard with Daddy.
This shirt she is wearing is one my sister wore as a teenager, and my mother wore in the 70s, and HER mother wore in the 60s.

(showing off her birthday henna....she needs you to see it)



Last night the two of us were sitting together at the bar, at Chili's, because the wait for tables was insane and we were trying to catch a movie with little time to spare. So there we sit, with a woman nearby exclaiming how she can't possibly be my daughter, how old is she and how old am I (flashbacks to my own childhood)? And the bartender asking what I'll be eating and then asking her what she'll be eating - and she ordered her own meal with sides? What? So he brings our virgin pina coladas, encrusted with sugar at the top, and I'm watching Ananda in her Dance Empire hoodie licking the sugar off the top and she asks me about Robbie's boyfriend. Because Robbie (my nephew on Grant's side, their cousin) has totally come out. And before I know it I'm telling her how refined my gaydar is, and how Grant and I were not the slightest bit surprised because we've always known, with him.
We went and saw Up, in 3D, after they came and sang to her and delivered molten chocolate cake...and it was great and we both loved it (and I cried at least 3 times - I really had no idea, that movie was fantastic). On the way home it's, "Hey turn on Pink, Mom". She's saving for an iPod? What?
Yeah, I'm confused.
Anyway, she wanted to have a tea party for this birthday. And obviously I have just the Alice in Wonderland supplies to comply.
I got that lace for $2 a yard at Jo-Ann's. Already scalloped along the sides. Aww yeah, baby.

About to start.

Ok, now, pay close attention, I want to point out some differences to you. THIS, is how big girls have a tea party.

(that's Annie, Christina and Grace)
THIS is how big boys have a tea party.

(Darien, with Aaron and Christopher hot on his heels just out of the frame)
And this is how little kids think it should go down.

(Isaac, Brian, Naja)
Although I have to say that before half an hour had passed, only adults were left at the table and all manner of children were running in and out of slamming french doors and squealing and shrieking and eventually sweating through their formal wear ;) They all had a blast.
My friend Kristin was here doing HENNA...there was an instant line.

Aaron wanted "the dark mark" (HP), and after some quick google image searching I think Kristin did a pretty impressive rendition.

While outside with some of the little ones, Grant took this picture of the tree across the street, and how it torments us. This is but a small portion of the tree. The entire thing looks like this, except the lowest branches that have been cleaned out by neighborhood kids

(lychees)
She wanted an ice cream cake.

With colored flame candles.


Her gifts were so cool this year.

Handmade owl from/by Kristin (shown)
lite brite
jewelry making kit
wooden box with painting supplies
Monster Book of Monsters
plush Hedwig (both HP)
two necklaces, one a cross and one filled with dried flowers
fairy ring
owl shirt (she likes owls :p)
GREAT dress from Aunt Laura
devotional journal (from a sweet mom who pulled me aside at the beginning of the party terrified because she'd heard from another kid that we might be Jewish...the funniest part of this is that we were standing by a large painting of Christ when she expressed these concerns, and within 10 feet of a fairly big cross)
and $40 cash, in the form of two twenties in cards from Oma and Nana and Pa, to go in the iPod fund
Nadia had to leave early, and this was hours in, so she is not pictured...

(Christina, Patrice, Grace, Tomara, Ananda)
Naja! And my cat! I swear she is magic (either of them, you pick)

Far later, when everyone had gone home, these guys were sitting and watching movies like zombies. My flash was the only light in the room.

And the next day, on the day, she went in the yard with Daddy.
This shirt she is wearing is one my sister wore as a teenager, and my mother wore in the 70s, and HER mother wore in the 60s.

(showing off her birthday henna....she needs you to see it)



no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:31 am (UTC)Nine!!! And I remember your post last year, "Eight!!!"
I'm amazed. You made and grew small people, and now you're growing a kind of almost big person! She's so gorgeous and smart and awesome, it's just crazy to me. I try to picture myself with a nine-year-old and it just baffles me, lol. What different lives we have...
I love all of you guys <333
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:08 pm (UTC)Yeah. I am feeling it all the time, that we've entered a sort of "next phase"....what with the youngest being two and me trying to make Aaron understand that although Grant is willing to help him do it while they're together, it just isn't safe for him to climb on the roof by himself.
We love you too <3
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:41 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:28 pm (UTC)You're doing a great job Tina. She's well-rounded and beautiful- what more could you ask for?
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:40 pm (UTC)I actually spent a long time talking with her about how proud of how she's turning out I am. She has a sometimes startling lack of empathy that can really bother me...but OTHER than that, she is incredibly smart, funny, has great style, a real focus and passion for dancing, her own independant faith life, is WAY helpful of her own accord, and is just generally good company. And she is beautiful, too, yeah.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 05:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:10 pm (UTC)She's also a full 4 inches taller than Aaron now, which is really strange after all the years they were basically the exact same size.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 09:28 am (UTC)What an awesome kid. I just had to comment because she has the EXACT same build I had as a child (and still do. heh). And I used to wear long cut off jean shorts with frilly socks and black boy's Airwalks. So I'm digging her style for sure
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:13 pm (UTC)She makes a lot of the same choices I would have made at her age, without ANY guidance from me...it is uncanny how she's developed fascinations with tie-dye, Converse, peace signs, holes in her pants and writing all over herself at the same time I did as a kid.
She looks SO DIFFERENT from me as a child...there are features in our faces, like our chins, and her style is similar, but I was a brown kid with kinky black curl-frizz and a wide nose.
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 11:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 12:43 pm (UTC)Also, I have heard about people getting kind of blindsided by crying at Up, and--as I have been known to cry at coffee commercials--I'm thinking about giving it a pass. My daughter now knows to keep an ear out for "sad violin music" and then look to see if I'm crying. ;)
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:15 pm (UTC)I was definitely blindsided, I mean, I was crying like 20 minutes in. BUT...it was mostly good stuff. I would say go for it.
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Date: 2009-06-03 12:50 pm (UTC)also, never got a chance to say thanks for the key west recommendations. we had such a blast trying out some of the things you suggested! i was bummed that when i made it to the leather sandal shop it was closed. boo! thanks again!
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Date: 2009-06-03 12:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 04:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 01:44 pm (UTC)ps. good luck finding out all the details for annie's stuff today!
no subject
Date: 2009-06-03 02:56 pm (UTC)I love the Alice tea wear and later this month my BF's daughter(her name is Erin but is called Alice ha ha ha ) will be turning 18 and we found the very same tea pot and sugar/cream along with a couple of trays for her birthday it's so cool !
and in 1 week from now I am going westward...to British Columbia to visit my grandkids and my kids...
oh how life seems to fly by ...
have a great day !
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Date: 2009-06-03 04:18 pm (UTC):)
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Date: 2009-06-03 05:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-06-04 03:48 am (UTC)