amphibians aka My Girl

I was reflecting earlier this week on the transformation of my daughter, LG, since last summer.

Two weeks ago, at mum's thanksgiving service, she very graciously coped with an afternoon of people saying "haven't you grown!" But its not primarily the physical growth, really. (though there is that too)

Only a little over a year ago I was blogging about the need to get her walking to (primary) school by herself - to begin that little experiment in separation (for her sake and for ours) before the Big Change of secondary school last September.

Looking back, i wrote about this quite a bit ( e.g. here and here.)

It was clearly a significant issue, which seems strange, in the light of the casual abandon with which I now bid her farewell in the mornings.... when i've bothered to get up at all, that is)

Its so hard to believe its only a year since i wrote those posts. Now, the final clinching incentive to get her out of the house in the mornings is to threaten to go with her, to follow her embarrassingly down the road. Even after 6 days away at school journey in May, her response to the information that we were planning to meet the coach at school was "what? both of you?!!??"

She wears a lot of black. She listens to heavy metal, and death metal, and battle metal and... lots of other sorts of metal i've never heard of. She wears too much black make-up and it looks good on her. She is hormonal and stroppy and swears and is full of information about the latest street-slang.
I've been trying to decide whether to say something about some of her jokes.

I decided not to. Let me just say that body parts are a particular feature of them.

With her permission (and with the request that I specifically note her copyright of the following) I share with you some pictures she produced last weekend whilst on retreat in her room, after a scrap with her father.






Of course, if her teachers a year or two ago had seen these, they might have been phoning social services.
No doubt her teachers now would just smile knowingly and say "ah yes, 12 year girls".

LG pointed out how much better it was that she should vent her fury by expressing herself thus artistically rather than trashing her room in a strop.



So much so teenager.

They do grow up so fast - like most cliches, its true. The transformation is extraordinary.

But like the little froglets, she is also on the cusp.

I've not seen much of the froglets lately and think they may have flown the nest hopped the pond. A few days ago I witnessed one hopping onto the edge of the pond and thence out into the wide wide garden. I wanted to follow it and see where it was going, and check that it was okay.
I think, actually, they are no longer froglets, but little tiny amphibian frogs.


In between - or mixed in with - the sulky teenagerishness, is lots of lovely childishness in my LG, and dependency and affection. There are times when she positively snarls at me that she doesn't like to be touched. Or tells me I'm a perv because i touched her. And at times, she is all over me with her heavy, sweaty beautiful teenager body.

One minute angst-filled adolescent - the next minute little poppet.



Last week I bought a new office/desk chair, which came in an unnecessarily large cardboard box.
I casually left the box in our lounge, wondering whether it might act as a trap of some sort.....

and within 5 minutes of LG coming home from school - voila!



caught! (but not tamed)