What makes my kids unique: Katie

For the next three posts, I am going to share with you some of the MANY things I love about my children.  They are each so unique and special that sometimes it is hard to believe that they came from the same mold.  Every child is his own person, with his own soul.  Katie, Andrew and Nicholas may have some of the same physical features and learned behaviors from Pete and me, but they are each their own person.  I will give you examples of this, beginning with my oldest and only daughter, Katie.



Katie

Now that she is in middle school, we have gotten her a cell phone.  I hated doing this right now because I knew it would open up a brand new can of worms; but there were times after school that a phone would have come in handy.   We had an out-dated cell phone of Pete's with his old phone number that we used to let her borrow for sleep-overs.  Katie also brought it with her when she went to New York City last summer.  She was always embarrassed when she had that phone; and I must admit, it was UGLY.  Since we were combining accounts and switching to a family plan, we got some great deals on new phones, and VOILA- she got one.  Katie doesn't have Internet access, but she does have a 24-7 lifeline to her BFFs-- with her dad's old number.  I must say, it has been quite amusing at times because some people Pete hasn't talked to in a long time have tried to reach him.  How Katie has responded to this is one of the many things I love about her.  

First Katie kept getting calls from someone whose number she didn't recognize (it was the cub scout master, by the way).  She ignored it until she finally got a text.  It said something like,

"Have you registered the boys for next weekend yet?"

Well, a tween's mind can take that message and twist it into many different meanings, some of which I don't even want to know.  So my spunky, bold daughter texted back,

"Who are you and why are you stalking me?  You better stop it or I'll call the police!"

Keep in mind that the innocent scout master thinks he is texting Pete.  Heaven only knows what he thought at the time.  Pete talked to Katie and asked her to please just tell or text the person that they have the wrong number the next time.  Apparently she forgot, which seems to be happening a lot these days.  So when a coworker texted this to Pete's old number the other day (when they were out of town at a business meeting),

"What time do you want to meet in the lobby for breakfast?"

Katie took it upon herself to shut that person up and stop him from harassing her. 

"Who are you and why are you texting me? Stop it!"

Again, the person who thought they were texting Pete probably presumed he had flipped out and joined the circus, or something like that.  But Pete didn't feel quite the same.  He had a little conversation with Katie.  Hopefully now she knows to come to us when she gets a weird text or message (just in case it is a creep) so that we can handle it.  We can only hope.

I am so grateful that Katie speaks her mind.  She does not care what others think and is not a people-pleaser like I am (which has turned out to be one of my biggest pitfalls in life).  She is smart and witty.  Most importantly, she can hold her own with her two brothers and a father like Pete.  Atta girl!