Little Woman

Well.  It happened.   My sweet little baby girl’s body has crossed the threshold into womanhood.

She got the signs of her first cycle on November 18th.  At first, she didn’t tell me anything about it.  She said she thought it was some weirdness that would pass and she washed out her panties and tried to carry on.  Luckily for her, it didn’t soak through.  The following day she noted more blood there so she went and took a shower at 5:30 on a non-school day.  I found that a little strange.  So I asked her what was up and that’s when she told me.  I asked to see the panty if she’d not rinsed it out. She brought it to me and sure enough… her cycle was in full swing.   She and I had discussed it throughout the years (since she started showing signs of bodily hair, body odor, etc) so that it would never come as a shock to her or for her to feel uninformed about what was happening.  Mission accomplished, I guess because she was so nonchalant about it.  And here I was hovering around her, constantly asking if she felt okay, setting up camp outside the bathroom door in case she needed anything from me.  Just a stark contrast to what I’d gotten.  It was some serious throw me off the cliff and see if I’d fly.  And to this day I question the seeing. I don’t think my elders looked back.

A whole new world has me preparing to introduce her to all the options she now has that I didn’t –  tampons, diva cups, period panties, etc and just keeping tabs on everything to be SURE she doesn’t spiral into the direction I went in.  I’m glad I’m there for her.

*