Beating them off with a stick

We along with just about everyone that meets her has told her this for as long as I can remember, but as other girls develop a little faster than her, M has doubted the validity of that statement and wonders if we're all just trying to make her feel better. As if what we actually want are a throng of pre-pubescent boys lining up at our front door. She is beautiful, charming, athletic and smart and if we could have it our way, I would just assume keep this treasure for ourselves alone, but I know that isn't the way this crazy world works. In fact, one of the crushes she currently has is not so unrequited with a second enamoured boy waiting in the wings just in case. I guess we weren't just puffing her up as she suspected after all. Her genuine laughter is contagious and the delight that has danced in her eyes since she was a baby, always brings a smile to my face. Lately, the pre-teen years have reared their moody head and I wonder if there is any really way to prepare for the coming hormonal tide. I have been warned many times that the teen years are worse. Kinda like the terrible two's not being able to hold a candle to the troublesome three's and I am certainly in no hurry to usher those years in, but the confusion and moodiness of the pre-teen age is proving a challenge that perhaps I underestimated. At least for today for some inexplicable reason which I care not even to know, the twinkle in her eyes had returned and I cherish every moment that it's here and as proof that this afternoon existed, I grabbed my camera.