Flowers. So soon.

A strange thing happened today. When the kids came home from school at noon, the yaya came up to me and said, “Ate, dalaga na po ang anak n’yo”. My first thought was… what? She had her menses?! Then she handed me a bouquet of 3 pink roses, in full bloom. Normally, the sight of flowers would have elicited feelings of happiness and pleasure. Definitely not this time. The next thing that came to my mind was - what the? I found this strange because the first ever bouquet of flowers I got was at age 22… and it had come from my now hubby.

Our 4-year-old is very pretty. I knew it the first time I laid eyes on her at the nursery the day after I had given birth. She had thick, shiny, dark hair; big, round eyes; and, very pink, dainty lips. Wish I could say she got these from me. She actually took after my mother. Mommy has always been a looker. I remember feeling elated when people say we look alike, and this did not happen very often. More often, I get - oh, you’re mom is prettier than you. My sister and I have gotten used to remarks like these and take no offense.

Anyway, I always knew our Little Girl would be breaking some hearts when she grows up. Countless times, I’ve teased her father about it, warning him, saying he better start bracing himself for the time when guys come knocking on the door because of his two daughters (I pray that that - knocking on the parents’ door - would be still the norm). But, one big BUT, I never thought that this would happen this soon! I thought, what in the world were this boy’s parents thinking? Apparently, the boy’s yaya told our yaya that last night, he cried and insisted that his parents bring him to the mall so he could pick flowers for our girl. And they did exactly that.

Trying my best to act as normally as possible, I told our Little Girl that the flowers were nice and matter-of-factly asked who the giver was. She said she didn’t know. She looked unhappy, even miserable. I asked why she was given flowers and she said she didn’t know. Minutes later, she told me that she was scared and didn’t want to go back to school. Why, did they tease you? She said no. The yaya said that as they stood outside the classroom and the boy came out, our Little Girl looked scared and pulled at her and said ‘Let’s go’.

It bothered me a bit that it affected her this way. Maybe the extra attention, the way she was being singled out, frightened her. But I am also quite relieved. Had she looked thrilled or flattered like a teenager, I would be pulling my hair right now and beating on my chest. Her reaction was a reminder to me that my girl is still the innocent baby that she’s always been. Minutes later, I heard her characteristic loud, hearty laugh from the other room; a cartoon cracked her up. Big sigh of relief.

There. I have gotten over it. Now, I can’t wait to see her Daddy’s face when he comes home tonight.