Taylor enters Womanhood

Two days ago, Taylor officially entered "womanhood."  Since I was an early one, I made sure that Taylor and I had had our conversations a long time ago, and we maintained those conversations so she would not be caught off-guard or scared when it finally happened.  She had a false start last year, but now it's for real. 


She has spent the last few days trying to determine if she can handle this new phase or not. Taylor has complained that her stomach hurts a little bit, but some Tylenol seems to do the trick. She is devastated that she cannot go into the pool this week and relieve herself of the heat of summer.  I did explain the alternative that will allow her to swim while in her cycle, but once she saw the device, she decided that she'd rather do without.


The really GREAT thing is that Taylor's head seems to have stopped rotating on it's daily cycle. Her behavior was spiraling out of control, and Ken and I were having a tough time coping her with her hormonal build-up. It seems that we have "Taylor" back in our midst, and it's rather nice.


We have heard the complaining though, but it was expected. She feels like she's wearing a diaper, her clothes are fitting funny, this is disgusting, etc.  This morning, Taylor was on a bender about how horrible being a woman is: she said that she feels disgusting and gross all day long and she hates sitting in a "diaper" each day while having to put up with feeling gross. Taylor then went on a rampage about men.  Boys have it sooooo easy! They can pee anywhere they want, they don't have to go through this yuckiness each month AND they don't have to have the babies.  She feels that this is all very unfair and it sucks to be female.


I tried to be sure that Taylor has everything she needs: a purse to carry her items discreetly at school (she's only in Elementary school, so the likelihood for ridicule is high), a calendar to track her cycles, and enough product to get her through. She has everything I had on hand when I had my hysterectomy, so she's pretty set.  Taylor suddenly asked why I gave her everything; didn't I go through this.  I reminded her about my surgery two years ago, and because they removed my "parts," I don't go through the monthly "fun" anymore.  I got the response I thought I would, "YOU'RE SO LUCKY!"  


Gently, I reminded Taylor that she has to go through this if she wants to have children later on in life.  It's all part of the process and totally normal and natural even if it does suck - completely.


Taylor mulled this over for a while.  Then she shook her head and stated, "Mama, I don't think kids are worth all of this!"


I gave her a hug and told her that she is not the first to endure this and she won't be the last.  She loves giving this wonderful "wisdom" to her sisters and reminding them to enjoy their childhoods while they can, and then off to school they went discussing Periods, and Boys, and how their lives are so difficult.


Once she couldn't see me anymore as she went to the bus-stop, I had to sit down from laughing uncontrollably.   Her response was priceless, and I'm glad she seems to be taking all of this in stride. I made sure to share the story on Facebook, and I got a lot of "likes" and supporting comments.  My kids are always worth the entertainment!