Thursday, April 15, 2010

how to tell that my daughter is tired

Anna has always been very cautious. This means that when she was a toddler, I was the mom standing at the bottom of the gigantic slide yelling "Come on! Don't be scared! It'll be FUN!!" I've spent her entire childhood encouraging her to ride faster, to climb higher, to jump off things....you know, LIVE A LITTLE FOR GODS SAKE. I know I'll appreciate her cautious nature when she's a teenager and some boys invite her to get into their car to go for a ride. But man, sometimes I wonder if this kid has any of my DNA.

So last night we were snuggling in bed, watching one of those MOST EXTREME AND INSANELY DANGEROUS OH MY GOD SOMEBODY IS GOING TO DIIIIEEEEE shows on Animal Planet when they did a segment about a 14 year old cowgirl's first attempt at riding a bucking steer in a rodeo. As soon as they come out of the shoot, the girl goes flying. In slow motion she arcs through the air, perfectly t-boning the ground, neck bending at an unnatural angle as her head drills into the soft dirt. Oh, and then the steer stomps on her head and neck for good measure.

Thinking I am being wildly ironic and hilarious, I turn to Anna and say "Just in case you ever decide you want to try riding a bucking bull in a rodeo, the answer is NO." har har.

"BUT I WANT TOOOOOOOOO!!!" She wails.

"...." blink blink. "Ok. You know what? You go right ahead and ride that bull, honey."

6 comments:

Dee said...

Anything to be the OPPOSITE of whatever you say ! Don't worry, you know she wouldn't. Strange child.

Nichole said...

Sounds like your mom knows...Maybe the contradiction is your DNA? :)

Jodi said...

Yep, I'd say she's just like you. If you tell her she can't, she wants to.

What the hell am I doing up at 4:45?

Sheri said...

Jodi, you can always give Sue a call. She is up that early too. Must be old age??

Dee said...

Jodi, you asked about 4:45 AM" but your comment was posted at -------

3:59 AM. That's terrible. You can't sleep when you're sitting at the computer !

Linda said...

Contradition, that's it. That's what makes teenagers be teenagers. It's all about doing the opposite of what the parents want.
Just yesterday, I had a conversation with a friend about that sort of thing.