The kid is growing up….

Tylah has become more independant of late. I mean… as a parent it’s weird because you often picture your children younger because the time seems to fly so darn fast. It seems like just yesterday that Ty was just a baby… then a toddler… then a small girl… and now she’s… well, she’s big. She’s 7 and whilst that probably doesn’t conjure up images of pre-teen-ism yet, it’s advancing on us pretty quickly. Why? Because it seems that Tylah has hit the Tweenie stage. Don’t know what a Tweenie is? OK, well the fairest way to describe the Tweenie stage is similar to that of a Teenager… but midget size. You see, Tweenies are just little bundles of attitude tied up in a package that advertises itself as "butter wouldn’t melt in my mouth." To that end, they’re VERY good at upholding that catchcry around the general public, but when we’re home? ohhhh on for young and old. For instance:

Tylah loooooveeeessssss music. Now I’m not talking about those kids shows like Hi-5 or The Wiggles anymore… nonono… I’m talking about the real mccoy: Top 40 countdowns, MTV, vh1, ipods and mp3’s… it’s all happening. She’s passionate about funky beats and busting a move or two.

Tylah loves magazines. In particular I find the "Barbie" and "T-Zone" publications (strategically placed to the side of the checkout area at the supermarket along with all those lollies that kids inevitably want as well) but if I won’t buy her those ones she’s happy to flick through my secondhand Cosmo’s or whatever. I’m sure it won’t be long before "Dolly" comes into the picture and lemme tell ya, THAT is weird considering it seems like yesterday when I was reading it!

Tylah is an "out and proud" member of the fashion police. To that end she practically carries her badge in her handbag everywhere we go. I have had to pull her up on several instances when she has whispered very loudly "Mum, look what SHE’S wearing" with a look of complete horror on her face! I learned about 6 months ago that it was probably better for me to take Ty shopping for her clothes rather than just "picking something up" because there was a chance that I "have no idea" when it comes to what’s in… and what’s out. As an aside for a moment… I’d like to just say that I don’t think that’s strictly true… but that’s my daughter for you. The worst moments come when Ty wants to browse through a shop "sans me" and has whispered words with the sales girl "don’t worry about her… she’s JUST a mum…" that is soon followed by a knowing *roll of the eyes*

Posters. Yep, gone are the Pooh Bear posters and up with Hilary Duff and Lindsay Lohan and all those other "ultra cool" mentors. Ick.

Lately i’ve been allowing Ty to ride her bike without my immediate supervision. We live in a quite street (okay near a busy road…) and there is a small park at the end. I see all the neighbours children riding their bikes and I thought I’d better release my monster-like grip on her. So for the past week she’s been allowed to either scooter or ride down to the park and back providing she checks in with me every 5-10 minutes or so (just so I know she’s safe). This self ocupation allows me to get a bit of housework done so it’s pretty good for all involved.

Anyway… last night we had a turn. Despite all of our talks about how dangerous roads are and the importance of staying where I know where she is… Ty ventured off under the guidance of our next door neighbour. No… he’s not older than Tylah, he’s the same age. Somehow between the two of them they decided to go on a trip to see Brianna (a little girl that Ty does dance class with and will be going to school with this year)… the neighbour obviously knew where Brianna lived because he currently goes to school with her… but anyway. To get there they needed to cross that ‘busy’ road and, well… thankfully they made it on their own. Of course I had no idea that she’d done this because she’d only been gone a short while and I could hear kids voices at the park so I assumed (naughty mum) that she was there. Mike came home from work and as dinner was ready I asked him to go collect Ty from the park. So you can imagine my shock horror when he came back and said that TY was neither at the park nor at the neighbours house. He immediately got into the car to drive around the neighbourhood and thankfully, 10 minutes later he came back with Tylah.

Boy was she in trouble.

whhhhhhhooooooooo.

In the most controlled manner that Mike and I could summon she was told off. I told her that I couldn’t believe after all our talks that she would actually go and do something like that. Naturally she blamed it on the neighbours child, but she’s not a do-do… she knew she wasn’t allowed to do that so she was sent to her room and had to eat dinner in there. That didn’t swing so well with her but I think after awhile she realised she really was in deep shit.

So that was my night.

Today we’re having a sedate day at home, I don’t plan on taking her anywhere (unless it’s to collect a few grocery items etc)… and that’s hard for me too since it’s 35 degrees outside… hot hot hot….

Over and out for now.

Vee