You Are SO Curvy

My daughter and I went to visit our friends whom we had not seen for the summer. We were taking her last year's clothes to pass down. Pants, shirts, shoes, coats: nothing fit in a very short amount of time.
We walk in and her mom says, "OMG, you got so tall!!!" ( remember two months have passed since we saw them) "I don't think I would have recognized you on the street if I had seen you."  And she has known her for 7 years. The kids go off to play, but when they come back  the mom says, "You are so curvy!" Her daughter yells,"MOM!" (The dad was present.) And her mom says, " But I didn't mean that in a bad way."

This points out how fast they change. If it is shocking to others, try to imagine how it feels to your daughter. Almost every day, she wakes up in a slightly altered body. So acknowledge it to her. Say things like, "I never was sure what was happening when I was your age - same for you?"

My daughter says, in the midst of this conversation, "You know, sometimes I am just standing, doing nothing, and all of a sudden I trip and hurt myself." Then she says, " I know, my mind has not caught up with my body." And we all laugh together.

Daughters do have growing pains. The awkward time exists for her. Be there for and with her.