12 years old

Puberty is such an awful time, a difficult transition for any person to go through. Their bodies go through so many changes, they have to give up toys and become who knows what and that is exactly what they become, a "you know what."
My sons are very affectionate at this age, always wanting a kiss, a hug or an "I love you." My daughters would pull away from me. It is such a messed up time for everyone. I personally enjoyed this change with my boys because they were showing me for the first time in years how sweet, normal, and cute they could be. I would become my sons love for a little while.
I used to get a kick out of watching my sons discover they had armpit hair. They would play with it, twist it and I asked my son once if he would like to have those put into dreadlocks for a real fashion statement. They would run around with their shirts off so they could raise their arms up high in a stretching pose whenever a girl was around. I don’t know if they really believed that some girl was going to fall at their feet and worship the ground they walked on because NOW they could perspire and sweat like a pig. It was also at this time that my children started taking baths everyday all on their own and sometimes they’d shower twice a day.
My daughter started shaving her legs. Boy, was she bad about it. She had so many cuts that I was afraid she was going to bleed to death. "Honey, don’t you think you need stitches?" "No mom, the stitches would just run my nylons." She would put little squares of toilet paper on her open gaping wounds and then her nylons on over the conglomeration of cuts and tissue. She had the appearance of mosaic legs, but hey who was I to question her method of being beautiful?
When I bought my daughter her first bra, I was amazed that bras had become so streamlined. When I got my first bra, the cups were so stiff and pointed; I didn’t dare let anyone get too close to me. I didn’t fill my bra out so if someone just happened to elbow me it would cause a crater. Everyone would know I was trying to make moutnains out of molehills. But the bras of today, are so cool. They look more like a slingshot. Modern technology, isn’t it wonderful? When I did laundry, I’d take her clothes upstairs and stand across the room and shoot her bras at her open dresser drawer to see if I could make it. If by chance they landed in her drawer then I would yell, "SCORE!!!!!!!!" My kids thought I was nuts but it didn’t matter, the age of fun underclothing was finally here. I couldn’t wait for my sons to start wearing jock straps just so I could see what kind of fun I could have with them………maybe an icepack or a nosewarmer, the possibilities were endless.