My baby is growing up. Yes, I know that happens. However, I prefer the maturation that is subtle and invisible. Not when it all happens in one week! It is only Thursday, but every day Natalie, my 8 year old, has thrown some "I'm growing up faster than you can adjust" thing at me. And they have hit me hard. Maybe because of the weather. Wait, the weather is good. Maybe because I am not feeling my best so her actions exaggerate the gap.


It started with a LIE on Tuesday. I am not naive, I know she has fibbed before and I have not caught it. But I myself was a terrific liar as a child (just ask my mother) and so I generally catch it. I learned that catching the child in the lie is almost as bad as knowing the child lied! And of course it revolved around the TAKING OF A BATH. Which was also the primary focus of my lying as a child. I truly think it might be genetic! I was downstairs cleaning up dinner, so sent her up to get in the bath. When I headed up after about 20 minutes, thinking she would be ready to rinse her hair one final time, I caught her on the bed, reading a book and her PJ's on. Actually she had thrown her book to the side and was struggling out of her PJ's and muttered "Oh, sorry Mom, I forgot!".  "Natalie Rochelle Bramer, get in this bathroom right now!" was my response. I felt I added just the right amount of exasperation in my voice to express, well, my exasperation.  We hustled her into the tub, and I asked if she wanted to wash her hair now or in a bit. "In a bit" was her reply.  Daughter safely enveloped by L'Occitane Verbena Bubbles, I headed back downstairs to finish picking up. When I headed back up in another 20 minutes (man, I did a lot of cleaning that night!), she was laying in my bed, PJ's on, hair dryed and perfectly parted. My immediate observation was that she did NOT take a bath. But I had put her in, so I knew she had! I quickly took a closer look at her hair and said "DID YOU WASH YOUR HAIR?"


So this was the moment. I hope in her little mind there was a struggle between angel and devil, between truth and consequence. But I think it came down to choosing between having to give up the book she was reading and getting back into the shower with me taking away all privileges and generally overreacting. The book won.  "Yes, I washed my hair" Spoken to me while looking me right in the eye. I hesitated as she definitely was confident I would accept this explanation even though her hair was 90% dry and PERFECTLY parted. So there it was. A lie. And the lie mutated into the truth for her. She insisted, adamantly, that she did wash her hair. We continued to argue back into the bathroom. I quickly checked the bottle of shampoo to be sure. Yup, dry as a bone. No 8-year old can wash their hair without getting the shampoo bottle wet. Instead of explaining that, she vigorously stuck with the "But I did wash my hair". No clarification given for whether that was with shampoo or not. The immediate parent response was to take away her DS for the weekend. That got her bawling so we had a wonderful evening washing hair and body (the bar of soap was dry too, so clearly she just laid in water) while crying.  


The thing that made this the LIE rather than the FIB was that she totally stuck to her guns. Even after losing privileges, she was trying to convince me she was not guilty. While I am sure this skill will come in handy if she is ever accused of a capital crime, it was not appreciated by me at all. It was a major indication that the little girl who could be snapped out of a FIB by just the threat of a loss of privilege, had matured on to the determination that a LIE was a better option. I am not whining about the lying. I can deal with that (note my earlier reference to the experience I have with lying). I recognize that this is just the first of many adult behaviors that will need to be encountered and conquered. It was not the best finish of what was already a crappy day.


Wednesday night, getting ready for bed. I was closely monitoring the situation making sure that no hand touched a book before PJ's were on and teeth were brushed. She was pulling on PJ bottoms when she stood up, looked in the mirror, checked out her naked torso, and said "Do you think I am fully developed?".  I looked in the mirror to see what she could see. I should add that recently she and I discussed that she now had small "bumps". I mean really little things, but they are there. It was maybe a week before this night. So, the "bumps" were pretty obvious in the bathroom mirror. "No honey, I think you have some more development to go. If my genetics are any indication, you have a lot to go!" This made her laugh and she finished pulling on her top and grabbed the toothbrush to brush the four front teeth she has left in her mouth.  So, she suspects what's coming. And she is not nervous about it. She is growing up. 


Today she dressed in a skort, white shirt, and knee socks. Even though I pressed for an indication as to why, no real answer. Just "'Cause I wanted to". No explanation for contrariness in her behavior. Another sign of her maturation process. To further the ache in my heart at these signs, she begged to walk by herself from our house to the front gate to her bus. She asked when I would let her walk by herself. "Mom, I am responsible enough to get to my bus by myself" she snorted. "PUHHHHLEEEAAASE?". A quick recap of the week so far played like an M.C. Hammer video in my head. "OK, If you really want to, I will let you walk from the Bell Tower." Resignation. "Awesome. Thanks Mom". Relief.  We walked together half-way, the Bell Tower. I kissed her and then sent her on her way...


Now I sit here typing. Listening to Simply Red (yes, you know which song). Hoping 3:40 comes fast today. Very fast.