I’ll admit, I feel a little guilty about writing this post since Lucia told me at on point, “don’t tell anyone.” But I’m convincing myself that when you do a post like this it’s not really like telling anyONE person…I mean, technically it’s a bunch of people, but you don’t know who so therefore my logic is, it doesn’t count. It’s highly unlikely she’ll read it herself since she recently proclaimed reading was “lame” (to which I made her promise not to reveal that sentiment in public--embarrassing and of course I attribute it to some kind of parenting deficiency). Plus, this story is too good not to share (but be warned, it's in the category of TMI for sure).
This weekend, my second daughter joined the “womanhood” club. Yep, hello Aunt Flow. I found out because she called me while I was out of town and said, “uhhhh, mommy? I think I maybe got my period.” My response, of course, “Ok, tell me what happened?” I was trying to vet the deductive reasoning that got her all the way to, “ I THINK I got my period.” Her response was to say that she felt something, "down there by her vagina," and went to the bathroom and there was blood. Uuuuuhhhhh, yep, sounds like a period to me. I mean, I’ve only had mine for maybe 32 years now, but I’m going to go with YES, that definitely sounds like a good guess.
So that was kind of cool. I felt the rush of emotion. The same the rush I felt with Ava, but this time I didn’t feel the need to call all the grandmother’s and aunts. I toned it down a bit this go around and I’m sure everyone was glad. (clearly my need to share is still festering though….hence this post)
I get home, and Lucia informs me at 9:45 p.m. last night that there is “NO WAY I can use a pad, I feel like I have a diaper on and it’s gross, I need a tampon.” I totally get this, however, I’m also totally tired so I tell her we’ll have to wait until tomorrow to head to the store because my super sized tampons are probably going to be a tad too big. She wasn’t actually thwarted by the size of them because she really wanted a tampon, but I said no, tampon emergency will have to wait. I think a super plus tampon is definitely out of her league...best to start out slow.
So today, while everyone else was off roller-skating, we went to the drug store. Now I have to first explain that Lucia has acted stone cold “cool” about this whole period thing. Like, she’s “got this” and why am I asking so many questions I mean, my questions were pretty basic. Do you want me to show you how to use the tampon? Are you nervous? Do you have cramps? Are you excited? She looked at me like my head was on backward and I was super uncool. She informed me AVA had already shown her everything and she was “all good”. Insert eyeball roll here. My motherly role, totally usurped. Very annoying and disappointing at the same time.
So I buy the toothpick-sized tampons, we go home. Lucia promptly goes into the bathroom and after maybe 5-7 minutes with the door still closed and all quiet, I knock and ask her if she’s ok. Her response was ‘Uhhhh, it’s not working, I need help.” Praise the lord. NOW I get to step in, be the period educator, anatomy 101 instructor, and mommy savior all at once. It was awesome. I’ve come a long way since getting my diaphragm stuck when I was in my mid-20’s…I’m practically professional now. I had this. There was serious investment in practice tampons---I’d say $10 or so of mechanical testing went on before I even went into the bathroom. Finally, we got it down with some really in-depth explanations. She mastered that intimidating plastic encased cotton wad. All that being said, Lucia concluded the tampons felt weird, and decided a pad wasn’t bad after all, and then we discussed the beauty of the tunic. So she can have the comfort of a long shirt and an extra “pad-wearing disguise”. Genius. Here's what I'm buying her....she wears the same size as me and is creeping on a full inch taller. We're getting it in black...that will be PERFECT!
Moral of the story. Tunics rule and my 12 year old still needs me.
Passing on a good recipe for Chocolate Maple Pecan Pie Bars (gluten and sugar free if you use Cacao Power). The blog this came from is fun...www.mommypotamus.com. She's so healthy I can't possibly aspire to that much healthiness...but it's impressive!!
Signed, ME {lv}
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