I'm Fun! Kind Of....

I swapped kids with one of my BFFs last night.  She took Handsome for the night and I took her daughter to spend the night with Lovey and I.  After movies and popcorn, I was downstairs closing up the house, while the girls were settling in to go to sleep.  Lovey quietly approaches me and says, "Mom, I told Friend to be prepared because my mom is probably going to come up and get in between us in bed and chit chat."  "Oh, OK", I said. *Pause, Pause*  "OK Mom?", she says, giving me a look to make sure I understand this code which means when you come in, don't say I told you to come, just come in on your own.  Got it.

So moments later enters "annoying, silly mom" *wink wink* to get into bed with the girls. The lights are off, the three of us are cozy and the chit chatting begins.  We talked about vacations, why the Ouiji board doesn't work, the fast approaching beginning of middle school and then the conversation turned to Lovey's bed.

"When did I get this bed?" Lov asks me.  "Well, you were 4 or 5 I think."  "Let's see", I continue, "You first had your crib, of course, which you were in until you were 2 1/2 or so and then you had your bed on the floor", I continue on, and then feel a jab in my ribs from Lovey's finger and since my eyes have now adjusted to the darkness I see she is giving me the finger across the throat back and forth sign AKA "Shut It Off Mom".  OhhhhK. So talking about bed progression is off limits with my Tween.  Hmmmmm......good to know.

So then we start talking about Friend's pet fish which leads us to the topic of Sesame Street and Elmo's World and how Elmo's fish, Dorothy, always asked the questions that started the topics for that segment of the show. 

For example, Elmo would say, "Dorothy wants to know how to ride a bike."  "Good question Dorothy!"  And then Elmo's World would be about kids riding bikes.  I'm sure your following.

So, I say to the girls, "Dorothy wants to know why tweens are happy one minute and crying and mad the next.  "Good question Dorothy!"  Then, "Dorothy wants to know if either one of you brushed your teeth tonight because something stinks."  "Good question Dorothy!"  And another, "Dorothy wants to know who do you girls like like?"  "Good question Dorothy!" The girls were giggling and laughing.  I was a hit! 

With all of the good fun, thirty minutes had passed and I started to get up and Lovey says "Not yet Mom, just 2 more minutes?"  "Lovey, I'm tired", I say.  "But Mom, your fun", she says. *cricket noise, cricket noise*  "Kind of", she adds. 

This girl is good.  A compliment to the mom she really, really loves with a quick recovery to maintain her true Tween status.  Nice work Lovey.