Tanner and I have both been sick the past couple of days. I took her to the Dr yesterday afternoon and she's got herself a viral throat infection and a sinus infection. Me-I've got a tummy bug happening.

Oh the joy.

We are both feeling a little better today. I told Tanner last night that I wanted her to come out of her room and at least lay on the couch today, as she's been in her bed almost non stop since Monday evening. She's been out here almost all day and we've had a nice, lazy day of sitting around in our snuggies and watching tv.

Tanner sometimes concerns me. And if I get to thinking about things too much, well, it really concerns me. I've said it before, but I'll say it again. My kid is such a loner. And that bothers me. Why? Because that's not how I was. And because kids that are labeled as "a loner" are usually the weird, stand offish kids. And my Tanner isn't a weird or odd kid-she just doesn't have a lot of close or best friends.

I've asked her several times the last two days (she was with her Dad before that) if she wants to call one of her friends or text them or talk to them on Facebook.....all different options there...and each time, she says "no." Her excuse is that she doesn't have a lot of her friend's phone numbers (which is true) or that she just doesn't want to talk to any of them when she's not at school. Her birthday is Monday. I've asked her if there is anyone that she wants to come over and hang out with or run errands with us, that day. Her reply? "No."

I mean, hello, my kid is 14 (almost)! She should be hanging out with her girlfriends, talking about boys and plotting and planning. She should be talking on the phone non stop or at least be on Facebook talking, non stop.

Instead....she's in her room listening to and singing with her music (she is on strict orders from the Ortho Dr against dancing right now) or she's on the computer downloading stuff to her Ipod or watching videos on You-Tube. Every now and then, she watches tv.

So what do I do?

I can't force friends upon her. She is the oldest in the "youth group" at our church and the next kiddo in age is a 6th grader. She has friends at her Dad's church, but she doesn't think she has anything in common with them since they go to different schools. She talks about her friends from school-usually the girls that she eats lunch with or went on the DC trip with-but she wants nothing to do with them outside of school.

I want her to have the experiences that I did when I was her age. I love that she wants to be at home, but come on, she's 14 for goodness sake, shouldn't she be hanging out with friends or at least chatting it up on the phone or texting them? I asked her earlier if she was bored at home and she said "kind of, but not really." I then suggested that she call one of her friends and she kind of got defensive and said "Why?" and then said she doesn't have their number (which is probably true).

So what do I do?

Suggestions anyone? I'm open to anything at this point.

Ugh-this parenting thing is much harder than I ever thought it would be.