Dear Roger:My Monkey Girl

I'm going to warn you now, I'm going to be in a mopey mood for the next couple of weeks, but I think I have a good reason, my baby is soon to turn 8. That may not seem like much of a big deal to most people, but to me, it is because I can see changes in her. She has always been an,"Old Soul", wise beyond her years, and with her intelligence far above that of an average 8 year old, she does things differently, but she has always managed to retain that somewhat youthful spirit and she had stayed away from the things that seemed to be the benchmarks of a little girl growing up, but lately, I have noticed a shift.
Since she was a small, small, girl she has adored the same boy. His grinning mug adorns the walls around her bedroom and whenever he showed up on tv or anywhere, the world stopped so she could watch and listen. If anyone said a cross word about him, she flew to his defense and there was hell to pay and often blood drawn. She was fierce and loyal and stalwart in her love and devotion, but a couple of days ago something happened, something that shocked us all, and left me wondering what to do? She was playing some educational game with her brother and they were conducting a an interview of each other and one of the questions was,"Who is your favorite actor?" I wasn't really paying too close of attention to what was going on until she said,(without hesitation),"Dan Radcliffe". The entire room stopped, and I swear you could have heard the sound made when a needle is drawn sharply across a record. Her older brother fell off the couch on to the floor as if shot, Stubby jumped up and ran over to feel her head and began asking if she was okay, and I just stared at her. Even Sticky was stunned.
She looked at us like we were all crazy. "I've seen ONE of Jackson's movies because mom says the others are too ADULT,(got the little sarcastic air quotes going for that), I loved AIM HIGH, but I'm Sorry, Harry Potter has been around my whole life and Dan Rad is awesome. I love Jackson as my favorite singer!" Chance was still laying in the floor as if he was in shock so she stomped over and kicked him before stomping off to her room and slamming the door, offended that we were acting so stunned. I went in later and she was laying in her bed, cuddling her stuffed monkey and still sniffling."I do love him! Dont say I dont! I just like Dan Rad too." I told her it was perfectly fine and normal, and that its the job of brothers to tease and harass little sisters and that she should be used to it by now.
She gives as good as she gets in the teasing and harassing department and she cuts the boys no slack when it comes to their disgusting habits. She has come stomping out of the bathroom, ire all over her face as she hunts up the miscreant who was last in the bathroom to yell at them about learning to aim or flush the toilet, or to not leave their fouled underwear in the bathroom along with wet towels. I drew the line when the day when she caught Sticky peeing with the seat down, smacked him in the back of the skull, made him stop peeing, lifted the seat after she made him wipe it off and then let him finish and angrily castigated him about forgetting to flush and wash his hands.Stubby told me this tale and warned me that she was acting like she was the ,"Boss" of the family. Maybe not the boss, more like the assistant zookeeper. She complains to me about the boys being,'Weird and gross" and she helps to keep them in line, but even she has her moments of savagery and keeping clothes on her is an ongoing project. Half the time she wanders around the house in her monkey panties, a set of skull crusher headphones and that monkey of hers hanging around her neck, or if shes feeling really creative, she wears her monkey beanie over the headphones.
She is getting older and she has started getting interested in older girl things, and there have been rumblings about hair cuts and dyeing and ear piercings and shes always asking about a tattoo,(my bad),and when she dresses to go out, she dresses like a punk rocker. She has developed an affinity for Bettie Page dresses and heels and quite often when we do go out, she is wearing her heels, carrying a small purse, and wearing a hat and gloves like someone from the 50's, though she is wearing garishly bright socks that quite often have skulls on them. I don't try to stifle her style and I have told her older brother to leave her alone, though there are nights he has angrily texted me from their ride to church about allowing her to go looking like a,'Suicide Girl in training". If he had his way, she would be back in the traditional second grade, wearing only little girl dresses, no monkeys, no computers, no music and a lot less attitude. He disagrees with her being in the advanced classes online where she is now taking some 4th grade level work and moving quickly though her lessons, he disagrees with her being allowed to go to concerts where she has fraternized with little rock stars and holds them to be her heroes,(though maybe not her favorite actor as of yet), he disagrees with her being allowed to listen to music like Golgol Bordello and Adam Ant. He thinks shes defiant and cocky and too smart for her own good and headed down the wrong path and soo many other things that he just really found fit to complain about,in spite of the fact that her one major request for her birthday was to be BAPTIZED on it,(which will be happening), but I think what it comes down to, it this, hes trying to be the big brother, the substitute father because for more than half her life she has had none, and hes realizing that she is doing quite well on her own. She is succeeding and growing and rising above it all.He tries to use our poverty and stress as an excuse for not getting his school work done, and the other day she called him on it. She said,"You just ate 8 eggs and the last of the bread, I have had half of a bagel and some koolade. I know whats going on just as much as you do. I'm doing my schoolwork. I have 8 classes in a day, you have 6, if you didn't gripe at mom so much, you would have more time to get stuff done." My baby girl always has my back, even when she is mad at me. Shes always been like that. Shes always been team mom. I don't know how much longer that will last, and I savor it like the last days of a perfect summer, because I know things change and she will eventually see me like the rest of them do, a pain in the ass that cramps her style, but for now, I am second in her heart to that monkey and I will take it.