![\"DSC_0041\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2656\/3888284070_51e413010b.jpg?resize=357%2C500\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nIt was a tough age inside my head and also inside my body as I changed and grew so much that year.<\/p>\n
I see the same things happening in my daughter and I’m so excited for her…..for us….for what this all means…..I’m just excited.<\/p>\n
She is a really great kid and over the last 6 months, she has really grown and matured in so many ways.<\/p>\n
We went to Whistler recently and I took WAY TOO MANY pictures while I was there. I dumped them to my computer in the evenings and while going through the pics. I was so shocked and surprised to see her in a new light.<\/p>\n
![\"Pre-Teen\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2485\/3888288186_f3f631c30a.jpg?resize=332%2C500\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nShe really is growing up…..and fast!<\/p>\n
Those are my shoes she’s wearing in that last picture. She still has a few inches before she hits my 5’10”, but I’m pretty sure she’ll make it and surpass me.<\/p>\n
This is such an amazing time where we get to learn and grow together – Her, as a young adult and Me, as a mother of a young adult. She gets to stretch her wings and provided that I’ve done a good job of teaching her how to make decisions and the weigh the consequences – I should be prepared to let her stretch those wings from time to time as we move toward a time and place where I’m confident and proud and even encouraging her to be stepping out on her own.<\/p>\n
She is a GREAT kid and I know that she’ll be a great Young Adult and then eventually an Adult.<\/p>\n
I’m not thinking that this time won’t have it’s challenges. Every phase of life brings it’s own rewards and challenges and this time is no different. But I’m looking forward to this new chapter in our lives.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned before, we are trying desperately to teach our kids choices and consequences and that we are always here for them and that our love is unconditional. We want our kids to run TOWARD us if they make a choice that has tough consequences and not to be scared or ashamed or to pull away from us. So far it’s working. <\/p>\n
![\"So](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm3.static.flickr.com\/2654\/3888293542_7ac4319541.jpg?resize=332%2C500\")
<\/a><\/center><\/p>\nThey know that we love, accept and embrace them even when they make choices that negatively affect them and others. They are really grasping the concept that “they”<\/strong> are making the choices and that they, are in effect “choosing”<\/strong> their consequences. It’s not always fun, but it’s a great step toward taking responsibility for your own actions. <\/p>\n It also is teaching them to think about what the different consequences of the different choices might me. And… they get to weigh in and choose what’s most important to them. We’ve also found that it has severely cut down on the number of fights and disagreements that we have in the house, and that alone is worth the extra effort that this process takes versus the concept of…..”Obey because I said so or else!<\/em>”<\/p>\n Angelica has her first babysitting job tomorrow night and she is SO excited. I’m excited for her, too. Even though it’s just 2 doors down from us in our complex, I would have never let her babysit 6 months ago. She’s come a long way in a short time and I know that she’ll do a fabulous job.<\/p>\n I’m so proud of the woman she’s becoming.<\/p>\n Angelica is 12 years old. It’s hard to believe that I have a daughter who is almost a teenager. It feels like the time has flown by so fast. It was not so long ago that I held all 7 pounds 14 ounces of her and her fuzzy black hair for the first time and … Continue reading “New Stages of Life”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,25,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-family","category-firsts","category-gelica"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=674"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":678,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/674\/revisions\/678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xangelle.com\/dailygrind\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"DSC_0110\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/farm4.static.flickr.com\/3526\/3888290822_7cf2c05fac.jpg?resize=500%2C332\")
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