One Hairy Armpit?

It's been an interesting couple of days with Lena for me. She'll be 11 in a couple of months and has begun going through the transition. There have been moments where I have questioned whether or not she may be bipolar or quiet possibly that I gave birth to the spawn of Satan without realizing it. Simple questions like: What would you like for dinner? are suddenly met with an extreme amount of eye rolling and a sarcastic remark. 

If she knew I posted this,
she would probably trade me in.

So, anywho... We've been noticing small changes happening over the past couple months here and there like the Satanic possession, her leg hair is beginning to darken, she's starting to get breakouts, and strangely enough her armpits are starting to grow hair... But only one of them. However it seems that these changes are going to start rearing their ugly heads like an automatic machine gun from here on out.

On Monday she came to me, "Mom, I need to talk to you." It hasn't yet clicked that those particular words, in that particular order, mean just me. Failing to pick up on the word placement ques she's given me, I obliviously ask her what's up with James sitting right there. She looks at him, then looks at me, then looks back at him. "Not here mom! It's girl stuff..."

Ooooohhhhhhh..... I got it now.

She takes my hand and drags me into the bathroom and slams the door. I'm not entirely sure what to make of this just yet, because she hasn't uttered a word. Instead, she pulls down her pants and points to her underwear. Now I am very glad that she feels comfortable enough to share these womanly milestones with me, but I haven't invaded her private space since she was old enough to run her own shower and this leaves me feeling slightly like a creepy weirdo. But there's a little white smudge in the center and she wants to know if this means her period is coming soon. The only answer I have for this is yes, it's about that time. I tell her it's completely normal and that there's nothing to worry about. 

She's now been getting the smudge almost every day and seems to have a bit of an obsession with it. "Are you sure that's normal?" "Is this going to happen forever?" "Is there anyway to make it stop?" "How much time do I have now until I have my period?"

I don't recall asking that many questions when it was my turn. My family has always been very candid about things like that, so when it appeared, I just knew what to do.

I've gotten her into the habit of wearing deodorant every day. I suppose I should also invest in a razor for her. I'm sure eventually the other armpit will start sprouting and I don't really want to share mine. I also got her a zipper case and some extra thin pads so she can easily conceal it in her backpack without anyone noticing. The best I can do is make sure she has the tools for when the time comes. I'm not sure what else to do or what other conversation to have with her at the moment.