Boy Craziness

Here I am, a young mom, happily bubbling along enjoying the innocence of her young daughters--coloring books, princess costumes, PBS--when I am completely blindsided by a phone call from a concerned father regarding my eldest daughter, Cora.

The concerned father was Brian Bernecker, father of Daniel Bernecker. Daniel was all set to be Cora's dance partner until he mysteriously became very dancephobic several weeks prior. His parents were very perplexed by his sudden change of heart, but decided that he just wasn't into ballroom dance right now and they should just let him be a 10-year-old boy.

Cora, who was all excited to compete at Nationals, was very sad about the turn of events. So we had been shopping around for another dance partner, but hadn't found a good match yet.

Back to the phone call. So Brian says to me, "I think I've gotten to the bottom of Daniel's problem."

"Really?" I say, not knowing what the problem might be, and cautiously optimistic that it is a resolvable issue.

"He finally told Steven (his brother) that he didn't want to dance because Cora tried to kiss him."

Wasn't expecting that.

"She did WHAT?" I say, trying to wrap my mind around this new information.

"Yeah, and then she told a bunch of people at the Studio that Daniel was her boyfriend."

Well, mysterious dancephobia explained. No wonder he didn't want to dance with her--he was probably completely traumatized.

I guess I should have seen this coming. I was aware of Cora's crush on Daniel, but I had chosen to ignore it. I figured that if I didn't make a big deal about it then it would pass like the rest of her obsessions--the color pink, the game of Old Maid, and cheese quesidillas had all had their moment in the spotlight of Cora's life, and each had been retired to the wings in its own time. I figured Daniel would be the same. And truth be told, the crush had passed, but alas, not without some casualties.

Another problem was that I had underestimated her. I didn't think she was so bold as to actually attempt the kiss. I remember once she made a passing comment about kissing, and naturally I provided the obligatory lecture--something like, "No kissing until you are 25." She was usually obedient when I told her to clean her room, so I had no reason to think that she wouldn't listen to me on this subject. I was wrong. Dead wrong.

So now, along with Daniel, I am completely traumatized. I wasn't expecting to deal with this issue for several more years--I thought we'd hit kissing about the same time as training bras, acne, and braces. I am so not ready for this in Kindergarten.

And while the crush on Daniel has passed, crushes in general have not. After Daniel there was some boy on her bus that she loved for a day or two. Now I can't remember his name and neither can she. And then there are the Whitlock boys--Ryan (who is in Cora's Kindergarten class), and his two older twin brothers Hunter and Conner. Hunter and Conner even gave her Valentines.

And then there is Aidan, her true love. Aidan's mom is Lynne Boudreaux, another instructor at the studio. Aidan is also in Kindergarten and so he has not yet reached the point where he thinks girls have cooties. Consequently, there is a lot of hugging and nose rubbing in the dance class they both attend that I happen to teach.

Lynne told me that when they went to buy the Valentine's for Aidan's class at school that he started wandering the aisles. She finally asked him, "What are you doing, honey?" to which he replied, "I want to get a Valentine for Cora." She thought that was sweet, so she asked him what he had in mind, and he thought for a moment, and said, "A music box."

How cute is that? I think I have a crush on Aidan too.

Well, Lynne had to explain that they were at Bartell's and so he probably needed to scale back his ideas, and they finally settled on a little box of chocolates with a kitty on the front. The exchange of Valentines was very sweet. Cora had picked out a chocolate frog with a gummy bug inside for Aidan.

Anyway, back to my problem. What am I supposed to do with a boy-crazy 6-year-old? Matt and I are banking on the probability that soon she will enter the "boys are so gross" phase and we'll be golden for several years. If that doesn't happen I don't know what we'll do. Maybe we'll have to move to a deserted island somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean. Matt would love it.

The good news is that Cora truly doesn't love Daniel anymore, and after I promised his parents that she would be docile from now on, they have had several lessons together. Dance wise, they are both developing very nicely and I think they will have a great time at Nationals.

As for the kissing, let's just hope she keeps her lips to herself for a while. A very long while.