Do 6 Year Old Girls REALLY Give Out Their “Digits”?

Ummm….YES they do apparently!  Ok…so I pick my son Alex up from school yesterday, he gets in the car, throws a paper down in the front seat, and says to me “DON’T SAY ANYTHING!”  “Don’t say anything about what?” I ask.  “The paper.” he tells me.  So naturally I picked up the paper and looked at it and OMG…it was girl’s phone number!!!  Follow along with me people.

My son is SIX!

He’s in kindergarten and he just got his first phone number by a GIRL who is SIX and in kindergarten!  WHAT?  I thought girls thought boys had “cooties” at this age.  Wait…maybe the cootie thing starts in the later elementary school years?   Whatever the case may be,  I also thought I had PLENTY of time for this girl/boy stuff.  I’m thinking that this may not have affected me as much had Alex not two days before this, asked me how babies are made.

ALREADY I have to explain how babies are made?  Ummm…no.  Not quite ready for that one yet.  Sooo…I kinda changed the subject and decided that I will address that topic when I’m more prepared to answer it instead of when I am completely taken off guard.  In his defense though, Alex IS a naturally curious and extremely inquisitive child and always has been.  But ask me how stuff works and the definitions of words you don’t know… not how babies are made!  We have time for that.  We DO don’t we???

So back to the phone number.  After several minutes of  questioning Alex (and not getting any more info.)  on how the whole thing transpired, he finally realized I was not going to quit bugging him about it so he told me what went down:  They were both waiting to be picked up after school and evidently, this little girl (I’ll call  her “Sally”) was sitting next to him and wrote down her name and phone number on a piece of paper.  She told him it was her dad’s number and to call her so they could have a “play date” together.  A play date huh?  Is that what the kids are calling it now?  By the way, she didn’t ask anyone else to join in on said “playdate” either.

Anyway, after I finally got the story out of Alex, I asked him what he was going to do and did he want to have a play date with Sally?  He blushed and never answered me…still hasn’t.  Maybe he doesn’t want to commit  to Sally because he doesn’t want to upset ”Genna”  the girl he thinks is really cute and is always talking about.  Or maybe he’s not sure if Sally is even a contender because she always “bugs” him.  Or maybe he is just plain and simple -not into aggressive chicks.  Whatever it is, he is clearly still trying to decide…or at least keep all of his options open.

All I know is that the boy just turned six and I’m already starting to see a huge shift in his maturity level.  No more baby shows (as Alex often refers to them) on Noggin or Playhouse Disney.  Nope.  He’s all about American Idol, DWTS, Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and anything on the Science or Discovery channels.  He’s finally letting his taste buds in on the fact that there are other things to eat besides chicken nuggets and macaroni and cheese.  He’s doing stuff that I normally have to ask him to do 100x without me asking.  And he wants to know how his hair looks in the morning before he leaves for school.  Does losing the first two baby teeth mean ALL signs of babyhood are out the door now too?

It’s weird because just within the last 2 weeks, my little boy is all of a sudden turning into a little man complete with girlfriends!  Hey, as long as I’M always his number ONE I’m good.  I’ve known since he was born that my son would be a little “lady killer”.  I just didn’t plan on it starting when he was SIX!

The Tooth Fairy Cometh

Today is a sad sad day for me ladies.  March 20th not only marks the first day of Spring (which is a beautiful thing after a long winter), but it also will go down in the baby book as the day my 6 year old lost his very first tooth.  Boo hoo waaaaah!!!!  I cried like a friggin baby!  Is there something wrong with me?  Seriously, I really did cry.  A lot.  I was no longer looking at my son as my “little boy” but he was suddenly a “big kid”.  All because of a darn tooth falling out?  Yep…and I’ll tell you why. 

When our kids are infants they grow in various stages or milestones right?  Well, a baby getting his first tooth is a big deal for the baby and the parents.  After months of drooling and fussiness, some in pure agony from the pain of teething, and bottles of Motrin or Tylenol, the first tooth pops out at around 6 months old and it is a BIG deal!  You and your hubby are sooo excited to see that little white nub coming through the gum that you practically throw a party.  And when the tooth finally does come all the way through, it’s like a little saw.  Who knew how strong that one little razor sharp tooth would be and how much pain it would inflict on the nearest adult finger….OUCH!  So yes, the first tooth and the rest that follow are big news. 

Remember calling your parents and telling them that little Johnny got his first tooth?  Shoot you would tell anyone who would listen right?  Again…it’s a BIG deal!  Another milestone in a baby’s life.  Well guess what?  It’s the same thing when your child LOSES that first tooth…only you’re not excited.  You’re sad.  You’re sad because your child is now 6 years old and not 6 months old and this first tooth loss is almost like a rite of passage into bigkiddom.  You know what I mean.  Your “baby” is no longer a baby anymore and losing that first baby tooth is proof of this fact.   It’s sort of a reality check of how time does really fly by and you wonder how, when, and why did this happen?  It must have been obvious to my son that I was upset about his loose tooth (perhaps my crying clued him in?) because he immediately came over to me and said “I’m so sorry I’m growing up Mommy.”   Can you guess what happened next? 

I cried more!  It was then that I realized how truly grown up my son is becoming to be so sensitive and insightful at such a young age.   It was also at that moment when  I realized that I must be doing something right.  Sometimes I forget that he is only 6 years old.  He amazes me every day with things that he says or does and I believe that he is definitely wise beyond his years.  So now since I’ve had this realization, I have decided that I just need to get over myself and keep doing what I’m doing because it’s working…so far.  That said, it is now time for the Tooth Fairy to make her grand entrance!  What IS the going rate for the Tooth Fairy these days anyway?