The tween years......

I have heard quite a bit about the "tween years" from friend and acquaintances over the years. I am sure you can imagine the vein of the conversations. With five daughters in our household people have been quick to talk about how difficult our lives are going to be once they all start going through the angst of teenage life.

I am not sure what I expected. I guess I expected there to be some sort of warm up period to the process.

You know a slow progression with lots of warning of what was coming.

Maybe there was and I was so oblivious I missed it all.

One day I said good night to our sweet and happy to please oldest daughter. The next day I woke up to this crabby "tween" that had taken her place.

Seriously.

Over night.

What?!

Why did no one tell me this happens in a split second?  I am pretty sure I would have taken notice of that fact if it had been mentioned.

Heck for all I know this IS the warm up phase and it is going to get worse!

I guess I shouldn't be complaining. After all this is completely age appropriate behavior and pretty mild at that. I can stand some eye rolls and the "You are so stupid" sneer every once in a while.

I am pretty sure I did the same to my parents at this age. Although behind their backs....cause I didn't want to die.

As the mother of an autistic child I walk a line between being both irritated and relived by age appropriate behavior.

On one hand I am certain that if she gives me one more eye roll and sigh I will scream. On the other hand in the back of my mind I am doing a little dance and celebrating that she totally nailed the disgruntled tween irritation.

With each new developmental phase, especially when there are serious hormonal shifts, there is the possibility of some new issue arising. You never know what, or if, it will happen. Just that it is possible. Talk about walking on egg shells and stressing out in the dead of night.  So when we enter a new phase and I see typical age appropriate behavior I do a little dance for her.

Teenage life sucks. It sucks for everyone all the way around. It however is a phase of life that I am glad I get to go through with her. I am excited to see the young lady she is turning into. I wouldn't want to miss even one eye roll or sneer.

Okay....maybe that is overstating it a bit. I could miss a few of the sneers....yeah....that would be okay.