Hey Doc, Can I Borrow The DeLorean?

This morning, Lena and I tackled one of those huge womanly milestones together. If you recall my post last month, One Hairy Armpit?, I mentioned that we're getting ready to tread into the deep waters of puberty.

This morning, my little girl, caught me completely by surprise. I was in the middle of brushing my teeth when she approached me very matter-of-fact, pulled off her t-shirt, and jabbed a finger straight into her armpit. I can only imagine the total deer in the headlights look that must have been on my face. Evidently I was just supposed know what that meant. After spitting and wiping a glob of slobber filled toothpaste off my chin, I asked her what I was missing here.

"Mom, we need to fix this" still pointing into her armpit. And then it hit me, she wanted to shave! My sweet little 5 lb 2 oz baby, who just came home from the hospital a week ago (at least it feels that way) wanted to borrow my razor.

I'm not entirely sure when the other armpit decided to sprout hair, but it's sudden appearance accomplished two things. One: it caught me completely off guard. She had not shared that little tidbit with me and since the days of needing assistance to shower ended when she was 5, I simply don't see her underarms these days. And two: one hairy armpit was a proud sign of growing up, but two? Two? She would not tolerate that nuisance. The time had come to eliminate her new found mortal enemy. Body hair. (Just wait, it gets better!)

While I understand that nothing is really just mine, I was not willing to hand over my razor. Not because I was afraid of catching her new puberty cooties, but because I had terrible visions of her slicing open the soft pink folds of her underarms. I have 5 younger sisters and went through this with all of them, but I recall just handing them the razor and telling the to do it already. It's completely different when it's your daughter asking for the blades of womanhood.

My reluctance to do so was met with some heavy sighs and rolling eyes. I'm so unreasonable! However, I remembered that I still had a bottle of Nair stashed in the back of the bathroom cabinet that I pulled out in order to quickly find a compromise. I understood the want to get ride of the hair, I just didn't want to chance a trip to the ER to do it.

We smeared the soft pink lotion under her arms and I told her by the time she was done brushing her teeth we'd be able to just wipe the hair away. Not thinking of the reason I had stored it in the way-back of the cabinet, I went about my other business and left Lena to herself in the bathroom. A couple minutes later, she walks into the kitchen, arms raised high over her head... "Mom, this crap stings!!!" Oh shit... That's right. Sorry kid! We rushed back into the bathroom, gave her a good dry wipe, said bye bye to the hair, and then washed her skin down in cold water until it stopped feeling like someone had just yanked each hair out with a pair of tweezers.

I stood there for a moment and just held my baby, rocking her in my arms, telling her I can't believe how big she's gotten. She looks up at me sweetly and tells me "Mom... I think I'm also getting hair on my butt."

She sure knows how to kill a special moment, doesn't she? Now I've added another thing to my list for this weekend. "The Darkness" Halloween costume and a safety razor.