She’s Super Freaky

posted by Momo Fali on June 2, 2010

I often refer to my eleven year old daughter as a “freak of nature”. I mean that in the best possible way.

Let me start by saying that if I had stopped having kids after she was born, I would think the rest of you were horrible parents. I remember taking her to toddler storytime at the library only to be surrounded by children who didn’t look as much like small people as they did drunken vagrants. Stumbling about, picking their noses, their shirts covered with a mixture of snot, chocolate milk and popsicle stains.

Some would put their fingers in the floor outlets, others would dump their crayons and some would run completely out of the room. Not my kid. If she had been wearing a halo she couldn’t have appeared any more angelic.

Her pacifier, which had been an extension of her lips, was taken away when she turned two and she never asked for it after that. There were no tears or drama. She was potty trained in three days and never had an accident. If I told her not to do something, she never did it again.

So, I’m sure you will understand that I believed I was the best parent IN THE WORLD and the rest of you were a bunch of schmucks. Just sayin’.

Then my son was born. Someone got set straight. That someone was me.

Through all of my son’s trials and tribulations and health problems and odd behavior, my daughter has never strayed from her original path of being a darn good kid. Sure she rolls her eyes at me. She talks back and fights with her brother too. I’m glad she does those things so I know she’s human.

Despite having a brother with a lot of issues and despite being involved with Girl Scouts and playing soccer, basketball, softball and track this school year, she has managed to be on the honor roll every quarter. I never have to tell her to do her homework or study for a test. As a matter of fact, I have actually insisted she “put down her book” and “stop taking so many math practice tests”.

She is a great kid and if she would start picking up her socks I would say she is extremely responsible. Also, I wouldn’t mind if she cleaned under her bed. Maybe she’s saving the old magic kit, the ripped-up foam hopscotch set and the single Barbie shoe stuffed with dust bunnies. I wouldn’t be surprised if she put it all together and made something that puts MacGyver to shame. She’s that smart.

Tomorrow is my daughter’s last day of elementary school. She is growing up. Fast. I can’t bear to think that someday she won’t be around every day.

I kind of like being surrounded by such goodness.

    Comments

  • texasholly


    awwww…so sweet. I am a little jealous since I wasn't issued one of "those" kids!

  • BusyDad


    Damn you and your well behaved, witty children. And I mean that in the nicest of ways.

  • Jaina


    Congrats to you and your daughter, how exciting!

  • Nanny Goats In Panties


    I was like that. And I was first. And then my sister came along and may very well have had the same effect on my mother as your 2nd had on you. Just being as self-aware as you are already makes you one of the better parents out there.

  • Heather


    Awwww, I know you have to be bummed! But congratulations! Without an awesome mom like you, she wouldn't be the cool kid she is 🙂

  • Monica


    lovely tribute!

  • MommyTime


    It's so nice to read a post like this that isn't a birthday letter or a saccharine-laced Hallmark card but just an honest and loving tribute to an awesome kid. Also? I am envious.

  • Tara R.


    Our two kids are so much alike. My daughter was always the perfect student, the one teachers and classmates loved. Never had a single major problem with her. Her brother, poor guy can't catch a break ~ too many issues to even think about.

    Maybe we had such amazing firstborns so we could survive our equally amazing, but challenging secondborns.

  • Mum-me


    What a lovely, lovely post about your daughter. She sounds like an angel.

    Actually, she sounds like my daughter .. that is, until my daughter was abducted by aliens at the age of 13 and a half. Now I don't really know who it is living with us, striking fear into our hearts every time she opens her mouth. I am hoping my beautiful, responsible, sweet, lovely daughter will be returned to me one day. In the meantime I have to dodge the eye daggers and sarcasm-laden comments at every turn.

  • meleah rebeccah


    Aw! You're daughter sounds a lot like my son.

    Congrats on her graduating elementary school!

  • Dysfunctional Mom


    My oldest son set a pretty high standard for his younger siblings, which they have basically laughed at and stomped on.
    Birth order is an interesting thing…
    but she sounds just plain amazing!

  • The Urban Cowboy


    It seems like just the other day, my son couldn't walk…now he's 24. Time really does have a way of sneaking up on ya. Congrats to your daughter as she takes the next step.

  • WeaselMomma


    You are spoiled! You have 2 great kids that I think very highly of.

  • Melisa with one S


    What a great tribute to Daughterof Momo's! (and it's a great tribute to you, too, momma!) I love this post. <3

  • Mary


    This was such a sweet post 🙂 She sounds like a very wonderful little girl:)
    And I found myself nodding my head while reading. My first born was like that…..and then my second one knocked us right off of our rockers!

  • Oscar


    Ice cream for her today!

    Guess luck worked as her independence lets you focus on your son a tad more.

    I'm sure she's a sweetheart. God bless her!

    Oh… finishing elementary school…. hell, the fun's just about to begin!

  • wenderly


    Awwww, so, so sweet!

  • Amy


    Such a sweet post!!

    (My BIL & SIL were like this. My nephew, their first, an angel. Still is – graduating high school this year. They simply couldn't understand how other people could struggle with such basic parenting skills! Then my niece came. OMG. She had colic as a baby and grew into a headstrong toddler and then a kid who knew exactly how to press her mother's buttons and did so liberally.) (HEH)

  • Angie [A Whole Lot of Nothing]


    I think we have the same little girl. Like, seriously.

    My oldest, aside from some minor quirkiness, is pretty much the perfect child.

    Then my 2nd came alone and proved I was a fallible mother.

  • AlisonH


    I can so relate to this post! Memories!

  • Jenna Consolo


    This post totally describes my first two children. My almost perfect (really) daughter… and then my son. I always tease that it's a good thing I didn't only have one child or I would be such a parent snob. And they do grow up fast. My sweet girl only has two more years at home. That thought brings me to tears often. How will it be when her face is not in this house every day? Oh, man. . .

    I can't take it.