Maci Bookout** dated both Kyle King and Kyle Regal in 2012, but if the former Teen Mom star has her way, she'll enter 2013 single and ready to mingle.

"I've been single for four or five months -- happily. It's awesome," the Tennessee-based college student revealed backstage at MTV's Restore the Shore benefit event Nov. 15.

The best part of going it alone? "[I love] not having to be anyone's mom but Bentley's," she says, referring to her four-year-old son with ex Ryan Edwards. "These guys [I've met and dated] are cool, and then three months into it, I'm like, 'You are a child and I'm your mother. You're grounded. Leave me alone.' The only mom I want to be is Bentley's mom."

Coparenting and sharing custody of her son with Edwards, Bookout, 21, tells Us Weekly there are a handful of holiday traditions she's anxious to carry out to make Bentley's Christmas season special.

"We do the Elf on the Shelf," Bookout explains, referring to the interactive holiday tradition that involves families putting an elf character in their home to act as a scout for Santa in the weeks leading up to Christmas, keeping a watchful eye on which children have been naughty and nice. "We've done it for two years now and when he was two he didn't really know, but this year he's really [into it]. "I'm like, 'that elf is watching you' and he's right in line."

Bookout reports that her son has been quite a good boy this year, winning raves from his teachers at preschool. "He gets gold stars every day. I'm so proud of him," Bookout boasts. "They always write comments on why they get gold stars and normally it's because he'll clean up without being asked or follows all the rules. Besides that, for the past months all he's been doing is riding his bicycle or dirt bike. I can't get him off of it. I'm like, 'can't we say your ABCs or something?'"

This article originally appeared on Usmagazine.com: Teen Mom's Maci Bookout: "I'm Single -- and It's Awesome!"