Cute Teenager Ways

C, at 13, has a changing body. He's rather self-conscious about it (as many teenagers are), and even though we have tried to be open in conversations since he was little about bodies, he gets embarrassed. Even so, I try to do as much talking at him as I can (before he runs away), so he continues to get certain messages from us. It's such a delicate age.

About six months ago I bought a stick of deordorant for him. I put it in the bathroom, told him what it was and when to use it. His response? "MO-OM!" As expected. I did not monitor its usage.

The other night, when I went to bed, there was a note on my pillow. From C.

The note asked me to please get him some more deodorant. He suggested spray deodorant as he needed some at school for after gym and he had the impression the spray lasts longer. It was sweet.

At Costco yesterday, I could not find spray - but I did find a package of five sticks of clear gel, and figured he could try that and not worry about using it up.

This morning he very sheepishly asked if I could help him with the new deodorant. Seems he couldn't get the gel to rise. We went through this very funny dance, each of us pretending we weren't talking about what we were talking about (because that would be embarassing). Finally the gel was figured out and the subject dropped completely. But I did get a, "Thanks, Mom." And that's more than I usually get these days.

Having a teenager is so funny. He still needs me but doesn't want to admit it. It's sweet. It's hard. I'm so glad he's sitll here - in all contexts.