Thursday, July 09, 2015

keeping it real

So the oldest recently became a teenager and in celebration of that we gifted her with a cellphone. I was super excited to give it to her. I had entered some trusted adults into her contacts and had them text her birthday messages. Then the best part.... I set her ring tone to happy birthday and we planned to call her on it first thing in the morning.

Here's the thing about me, I have an incredible Mom who took the time to make the little things special when we were growing up. She was probably the 70's equivalent of a pinterest Mom. I look back on my childhood with overwhelming fondness despite it being far from perfect and I want the same for my girls. To that end I get ridiculously excited when I put together a plan like the cellphone birthday plan. On the 13 year old's birthday eve I was busting with excitement. So much so I confided in MyPie as I tucked her in.

Me: Wanna know what we got Abbers for her birthday?
Maya: Yes!
Me: Can you keep this information to yourself until morning?
Maya: Uh, yeah.
Me: Okay, we got her a cellphone! She's going to freak out, right?
Maya: Yes!!!
Me: I can't wait to give it to her.

and then, in typical youngest child fashion...

Maya: Uh, could I put my name on that card? I didn't actually get her anything.

2 comments:

Lynn said...

Hee! Maya is adorable. You're going to have a whole book's worth of stories about her by the time she is grown :).

I'd love to hear more about the cell phone transition. Our oldest will be 13 next year and a few of his friends have cell phones now. For me it's such a land mine area of new rules and regulations, I'm desperate for information from parents who have been there already. Do you have guidelines on when and where she is allowed to use it? Do you plan to keep tabs on her communications, or did you give her some guidelines and then trust her to come to you with any problems?

Betsy Hart said...

That kid is beyond funny! And I want to hear how you handle things with her and a phone.