Much Needed Time

Hey Everyone!! I am excited and happy to tell you...

My daughter, my now 12 year old daughter, held my hand!! By her own free will!!

Yes people!! This is AMAZING!!!

How did that happen? Well, let's start at the beginning...

You see, her birthday was last week and in order to celebrate it with her I picked her up on Friday and took her to dinner, some shopping, and a movie.

First when she got in the car, Princess told me she was excited....Yes, you read that right, she was excited. This is the same child that I have been having the misconnections with. I was over the moon happy when I heard her say that.

We went on our way to dinner - there is a Johnny Rockets connected with a Game Day game center. She had never been to a Johnny Rockets before and so this was interesting.

She perused the menu and immediately asked if they offered chicken fingers - typical - LOL

Of course they did and so we ordered dinner and she was all smiles. See....

Look, they even brought us a little bowl of ketchup with a smile.

After dinner we went to have some fun at Game Day.

This girl had an amazing time!!

She played the crane/claw games and was able to score a Minion, a Penguin, and a giant textured bouncy ball.This girl is good!!! Again, she was all smiles.

We tried the dance dance game (well, she did, I didn't) not too much success there but she tried.

Then it was on to some bowling...

Let's just say people, there were 2 strikes in her game. Did I mention how awesome my daughter is?

After Game Day it was off to some shopping.

We stopped into Ron Jon Surf Shop and she found herself this beautiful necklace with a purple flower and a watch that also was purple. She looked at me with her puppy eyes and I couldn't resist so I of course got them for her.

We looked at some other items and we came across a table of Bandeaus and she fell in love with this one...

She told me that I should buy it for myself because I used to wear my bandana all the time but haven't since I lost it during a surfing event.

My daughter knows me! I love it! And so, I did.

Then we went to FYE and she came across a Big Time Rush CD that she just HAD to have and so, I told her that she could buy it with her birthday money. She was hesitant at first because I told her she would have to hand it to the clerk and pay for it herself - that's a big deal - but she really wanted it so I gave her some moral encouragement.

On the way to the register, we came across the $5 DVD bin and rummaged through it and found the movie she has been searching for "like FOREVER!" (her words).

Again, she was told that if she wanted it she had to present it to and pay the cashier herself.

And you know what? She DID IT!!!

Proud momma right here - big milestone for her and she was actually glad she did it.

From there we went to the movies to go see Free Birds - not my first choice - but she wanted to see it (I was partial to Thor or Ender's Game)

The local Minicon place was taking pictures of movie goers in front of the Thor pictures - she was happy to participate.

She even wanted to take a picture with me!!

We did have a conversation before the movie started - she said that this was a great birthday present. She brought up her 9th birthday...the one that happened just a week after her father and separated - she said that she didn't like it. That it was NOT the best birthday present.

That crushed me but I told her that just because we were no longer together, her father and I loved her and her siblings very much and that things are better now that we are not married - I asked if she agreed and she said yes, and she smiled, she reiterated that "still" she didn't like it - but smiled and nudged me as I passed her the popcorn.

She got it off her chest after a long time of holding it in - I was proud of her for this.

I can't believe it, my big girl is growing up!

As the lights dimmed down we settled in and enjoyed the show.

She got cold during the movie and so we cuddled - we CUDDLED people!! This is HUGE!!

At the end of the movie, before we walked out - she told me that she had so much fun and was very happy.

THIS people, THIS, what happened next, is what made my night...

We walked to my car and she went ahead and held my hand.

We haven't held hands in like forever!!

We needed this time together so much. We needed to just be mother and daughter.