My Daughter Is Eleven And Is Channeling Eleven From Stranger Things

Stranger Things is one of my daughter's favorite shows, so naturally she wanted to play on the whole eleven theme when she turned 11.

So.

If you've never seen Stranger Things before and are wondering why she's standing there in a pink dress with her arm out like that, well, it's because the character Eleven does the same thing in the show. She can control things with her mind. Natalie wishes she could control things with her mind.

"You will let me stay up later."

I can hardly believe my daughter is eleven. But I can believe that she wanted to dress up like the character Eleven. She's always loved to dress up from a tiny age. This was one of the first outfits she ever put together. She came out and was all, "I pwetty."

Shirt change! And in the show, Eleven loves her Eggos, so of course they had to be present.

Natalie loves Eggos too. She has them often when she doesn't like the meal I've made. She knows how to make them on her own. (Which I would hope, considering all you do is put them in a toaster..)

She loves animals and is hoping to be a vet tech. She's not afraid of spiders or snakes. When her friends freak out over a bug, Natalie calmly says, "Let me handle it," and will scoop up the bug and bring it to safety. She yells at her friends who stomp on bugs. "They weren't hurting you! What's your problem?"

She's a more confident child than I ever was. I was shy. Timid. She's more outspoken. She has tons of friends.

She forces me to be social. I'm an introvert who would rather stay home and read. She's an extrovert who usually always has weekend plans with friends. If it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't speak to the amount of adults that I do.

My daughter is eleven today. And I have a feeling life will continue to be an adventure with her in it. I never know what to expect.

And, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.