No More Fingers

Taylor,

You are 11! Eleven! You can no longer count your age on your hands. You can no longer order off of many restaurants' kids menus. Oh my goodness, before I know it you are going to be driving! I am really loving this motherhood thing as you get older. It is so much easier in most aspects. When it comes to dealing with an emotional, hormonal girl, it is harder. But I am really loving this phase with you, probably because you still like me and come to me with all sorts of questions.

There is so much to document about you at this age. I hope I can fully capture it all below.

• You are one of the tallest girls in your class. I am not sure if you've peaked early or if you are going to be taller than me and your grandmas. Regardless, I love watching you with your friends. You are the tallest and most beautiful of them all. 
• You are more into your physical appearance now. You style your hair. You paint your nails. You ask me if you can wear mascara to school. You want to start shaving your legs. I've encouraged you to wait until spring because there is no turning back. You've been shaving your armpits for a while now. 
• While you are tall and have definitely gained weight, you are still petite. I look at your cute little figure and am jealous!
• You have been wearing a bra for a year or so. A couple of weeks ago, I took you to have you measured for bras because I was tired of you saying that bras did not fit. Turns out that you are a 30B. It is such a unique size that we had to special order some bras for you. Not many 11-year olds are a B cup!
• You have had some acne, but not much. I pray that you escape this phase. 
• You have lost 19 teeth. Only one to go! You are very diligent about wearing your retainer at night. Your orthodontist is proud of you and says your teeth look great. She said you'll need "Phase 2" of braces, though, because you have a bit of an overbite.
• Last fall, you had a bump/sore on your head where you parted your hair. At some point, the bump turned into a scab. When the scab came off, your hair fell out and you have a tiny bald spot in the center of your head. Your doctor is concerned that the hair will not grow back because the hair follicles are gone. Thankfully, you've made the best of it and now part your hair on the side.
• You have an attitude. Big time. Sometimes you make the snarkiest faces and roll your eyes at me. When I call you out, you get SO MAD at me. Boy are we going to butt heads when you are a bit older and this attitude gets worse. 
• While you have a temper, you also have a tender side and admit when you are wrong. It warms my heart when you apologize and offer me a big hug. I hope we can continue to apologize when we lose our tempers with each other (because I have no doubt that we will for years to come).
• You adore your dog, Annie. 
• You and Brayden get along for the most part. 
• You and Matty do not get along much at all. When you do, I am absolutely thrilled but know it will not last long.
• In the past year, you have become an avid reader. I love that. You have Chris Colfer to thank for that because he wrote the "Land of Stories" series that you powered through. It makes me so happy to come in to say goodnight to you and see you engrossed in a book. It is so much better than an iPad or TV.
• Your best friends are Julia, Ella, and Olivia. You also enjoy playing with Nicole, Taylor C, and Harper. You've also formed quite a bond with several girls from dance, primarily Morgan and Hailey.
• You keep making funny statements to me about how you want your room to be "modern." I'm not sure where you got that since I am not exactly sure what "modern" means. When I ask you about that, you say that you just want your room to be clean and de-cluttered. I find this completely ironic since you are the messiest person in our house. It makes me crazy when I come into your room and see your drawers half open and clothes thrown all over the closet and floor.
• Your favorite food is avocado and sushi (avocado rolls).
• You love music and ask to play spotify every time you and I are in the car.
• You want to be a teacher when you grow up.
• You still love to dance. You are now enrolled in five classes a week. You have tap, contemporary, and company rehearsal on Tuesdays; jazz on Wednesdays; and ballet on on Thursdays. You dance around the house all the time. Sometimes you will take videos on the iPad of you dancing in the family room, and then the videos end up on my phone. I can see your emotion in your choreography. :)
• You come to me with ALL sorts of questions and I love it. I love that you feel so comfortable with me. The other day, a 5th grade boy from your school told you that he is transitioning to become a girl. That night, you interrogated me about gender changes. Boy, I was not prepared for that (but I think I nailed the conversation). :)
• *Added after your 11-year well check: You are 59.25 inches tall (79th percentile) and 84.1 pounds (53rd percentile). Your BMI is in the 39th percentile. You gained 13 pounds and grew 3.5 inches in the last year. Your pediatrician indicated that you peaked a year ago (between ages 9 and 10) when you grew 4.25 inches. As a result, she believes you will only grow a few more inches until you're done growing. I was hoping you'd be 5'5", but she believes you'll cap out at about 5'3". While you have not gotten your period, your pediatrician says it could be any day.

For your birthday, daddy and I took you and eight friends to an Escape Room last Saturday. The nine of you and I spent an hour trying to steal the Mona Lisa. I will admit that I was surprised at how well the nine of you got along and worked together. Afterwards, you all came back to our house, ate Chipotle, opened presents, had cake and ice cream, played Telestrations and Apples to Apples, and started watching "Lemonade Mouth." It was a successful birthday party. I liked having the girls picked up at 10:00 instead of having a sleepover. 

Today, we opened gifts, had breakfast as a family, and then you went over to Harper's to play with her, Nicole, and Samantha. Once you got home, we tried to go bowling but settled on a movie ("Dolittle") when we learned there was a four-hour wait for a bowling lane. Grandma and Pop Pop joined us for the movie and then dinner at the Cheesecake Factory after. I would say it was a pretty awesome birthday, especially because it landed on MLK Day this year and you did not have school.

Taylor, you are becoming a GORGEOUS young lady. Sometimes I watch you from afar and it just takes my breath away that you are MINE. I am beyond proud of you and pray that your 11th year is all that you've hoped for - you are wrapping up your last few months at Newcastle Elementary and then you go to Maywood Middle School. I pray that you continue to smile and laugh - you have a contagious smile that draws others near you. May you be a leader to others and let Jesus' light shine through you.

I love you,
Mom