My daughter turned 5 just a few short months ago, yet instead of heading toward age 6, she seems like she is heading toward 15. I look over at her now as she chomps away on goldfish while 20 brightly colored necklaces hang from her neck. She looks like she just stepped off Bourbon street after a fun evening in New Orleans during Mardi Gras or she raided Claire’s Boutique at the mall.

Unfortunately it isn’t just necklaces, it is also the shoes that seem to be propelling her to teenhood. For the two weeks leading up to Christmas she asked me every day to buy her ‘high heels’. At 5 years old you can give them the dress-up plastic shoes to satisfy them, at least temporarily. Even Santa was smart enough to imbibe her with more ‘heels’ in the form of Ariel dress-up shoes. Surprisingly my daughter even managers to jump rope in these things. I look down at my own Dansko clogs and shake my head, why does my daughter look ready to dance at the club (or at least an upcoming ball) while I am stuck in comfortable shoes?

After receiving fancy dress-up shoes from Santa, one would have thought the need for shoes would end. But, no. One day after Christmas she was asking me to take her to buy boots. Not the practical winter variety (you don’t need them in Arizona anyway) but some pink cowboy ones or ones with pink fuzzy edging around the top. I sadly admit that I was over 40 before I bought my first pair of stylish boots, so should my daughter have them before she reached her 6th birthday? Through distraction and procrastination I have avoided the fancy boot shopping spree. If I can delay a bit longer I will be spared since it won’t be long before it is time to pull out shorts and flip-flops for Arizona spring.

My final straw and realization that my future ‘teen’ problems were brewing was a trip to ToysRus. She found lip gloss. Not just 1, 2 or even 3, but 5! When you open one of them, music comes blaring from it. Not Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, but some kind of rock music. I know, I should never have bought a set of 5 lip glosses, but what was the alternative? Nail polish and eye-shadow? Lip gloss sounded good. It is clear anyway so it doesn’t even look like she is wearing anything (thank goodness!).

Each of these individually didn’t seem like a big deal, but when I put them together I already had a teenager on my hand or a least one brewing. Now I just have to sit and wait for the hormones to start churning. Hopefully the lip gloss, high heels, and fancy necklaces will be enough to keep her busy for a while – like 6 years? A mother can hope can’t she?