Six

So, today the kid is six. Crazy. I would ask where the time went, but I know where it went. Into the awesome years that were one, two, three, four, and of course, five. Such great times associated with every single year. Well, every single day. I'd say every single minute but that would be insane if only because of that part in the beginning with so very little sleep and that one time when I had to carry her out of the mall kicking and screaming when she was like three-ish. But otherwise yes, it's been a pretty awesome run.

She'd decided for her birthday that she wanted to see a movie and picked We Bought a Zoo. I asked her if she was sure about this, as this is a two hour-plus movie and it's not a cartoon and it's not a musical and there are not even any Muppets in it or anything. I asked her many times if she was sure that this was the movie she wanted to see and she told me yes.

There was one point where she said she wished she had her LeapPad (her dad was able to get it for super cheap for her birthday) with her so she could play with that. Other than that, she was pretty much into the movie, and so was I, even though I'm pretty sure I had to go to the bathroom the whole time I was watching it. Matt Damon is just so cute and easily distracted me from what was a very full bladder by the time the movie ended.

Kayla would also like to buy a zoo someday.

After the movie we went to the car to get the LeapPad and go to The Cheesecake Factory. The rechargeable batteries died within about ten minutes (she'd played a lot last night), but that was okay. I think she was enjoying watching people with me. Watching people in Walnut Creek can be very, very, very, very, very interesting. Just saying.

We had a lovely time. I don't even know what we talked about... I just know that talking to her is so much fun. Being with her is such a gift. Like, that we can go out, just the two of us, to a place where we wait for 20 minutes to be seated and where basically we spent over an hour and a half just being together. And after she'd already watched a two hour movie. I don't have to worry that she will go south on me or get too tired or that I will find myself wishing I'd picked a faster place.

This is what makes six better than three, in my opinion. Three is cool. No doubt. And you can't get to six without being three. But I really, really, really, really like six.

They brought her some ice cream and sang happy birthday to her. A family at the table near ours told us that their daughter was there to celebrate her 21st birthday. I told them what I'd told Kayla earlier, as I was drinking my Eel River Organic Amber, that I would take her out for a beer on her 21st birthday. Or a glass of wine. I wonder if my kid will even like beer... Even if she doesn't ever develop a taste I am still going to like her. A lot.

Seriously, folks, 12-27-2026 will be here before we know it. Sheesh.

We were going to go to the zoo today, too. But I convinced her that stretching out her birthday over two days (or even three) was a great idea, especially since Mommy is fighting a stupid, I mean, really stupid as in it comes it goes it comes it goes it comes back again stupid cold. So she even let me take a nap, something I said I wouldn't do on her birthday, but she's awesome like that. She didn't throw a fit. She listens to reason and she does her own thing while I rest. I cannot wonder enough times what I did to get this particular kid, the one who doesn't give me a hard time (often) and when she does it never lasts long. So. Lucky.

By the way, new Kayla word today: A-dorable. As in, make that a long "A" sound, and then add the "dorable." I said, "A-dorable?" She said, "Like really adorable, you know, like HIGH-larious?" That's one she got from me, and yes, I did totally get what she was saying, and I love it when she reminds me of me when it's something silly or quirky or of course, funny. I'm like, YES! YOU are the kid I have raised! Woo hoo! She's such her own little fabulous person, but seeing little pieces of yourself rub off after raising someone for six years, well, sure, there's an element of vanity there, no doubt. And also it's just cool.

On the way home she says to me, sort of out of the blue, "What will we do for my 19th birthday?" I said, "Well, I don't know. I mean, when you're 19, you might not even want to hang out with me. Maybe you'll have a boyfriend or something and you'll want to hang out with him." She tells me, "If I have a boyfriend, do you know who it's going to be?" I asked, "Who?" She says, "Jesse. But you can come out with us." I started laughing and said, "Okay, can we write that down so we'll remember you said that?" And she said yes.

Done.

Finger Quote Abuse and Other Stuff

So, recently the kid has taken to using finger quotes. And by "finger quotes," I mean when you want to indicate that you're speaking and putting something in quotes, so you put both hands up to either side of your face and make your second and third fingers act as living quotation marks. And by "using" I mean that she has been abusing them with hilarious effect.

I just asked her from where she got this. I got the famous, "I don't remember." Which makes me think it was either from me or the TV, two of her greatest influences. I mean granted, she sees plenty of other people, but those are always my primary suspects. Though now I wonder if her dad ever makes the finger quotes... I'm gonna have to ask him... I just don't see him doing it and I am having the strongest suspicion that iCarly is behind this.

Let me see if I can whip up an example. Blogging about stuff my kid says would be so much easier if a) I wrote things down when they occurred and b) my memory didn't suck a#$ really hard.

The first time I recall her abusing the finger quotes was when we were on the couch in the living room. She wanted the TV. At this point I should mention that we have four television sets in the house. If you do the math, and that's not hard, that breaks down to two television sets for each of us. But she was wondering when she could have the particular TV that I was watching (to which the DVR is hooked up, hence my particular interest in this TV). Please note that the words around which she puts the finger quotes are said with great emphasis.

ME: You can have this in a minute... show (probably Top Chef) is almost over, I just want to see who they are gonna send home then I gotta take a shower (I'd exercised, the only reason I can think I woulda been taking a shower at nighttime).

KAYLA: So, you are (finger quotes) saying that when you see who's (finger quotes) going home you're gonna get in the (finger quotes) shower and I can (finger quotes) do something.

Abusing and misusing the finger quotes? Absolutely. But if it's funny to her mother does it really matter? I don't think so.

The other day she was sitting on my lap and put her hand under my chin. "Are you growing a wattle? That's a nice wattle." I looked at her and then at my mother and then asked, "Where did you get that?" "From Grandma, she says." Grandma explains, "I told her that this area under my chin was my wattle. You know, like a turkey." "Yes, Mom, I know what a wattle is, I just didn't know that's what we were calling this now."

 

 

Also during some lap time today while I was on the computer, she pointed out that I seem to be growing a mustache. I told her that yes, this is why I see Bev from time to time and she rips out that hair and fixes up my eyebrows with hot wax. This is a very helpful kid. Pretty sure she's always gonna tell me how it is.

She has said several times that she loves me "more than anything in the universe." Also, since I still refer to her as the baby and Sarah makes fun of me for that and Samantha just pointed out today that is she is not actually a baby anymore, I said to her, "Is it okay with you if I always call you my baby?" She said, "Yes, even when I'm a teen!"

I told her I am going to record her saying that and that she loves me more than anything in the universe. I so need to record that and play it at that crucial moment in her teendom that she is giving me the largest amount of grief. I'll just need to remember that I've recorded it and know where to find it...

Bieber Fever... NOT

Last night after trick-or-treating we were home eating our Taco Bell (don't ask) and watching a little Dancing With the Stars. I was in the kitchen getting something to drink (no, it wasn't beer, it was water) and Kayla was in the living room when Tom Bergeron mentions that Justin Bieber will be on the show the following night.

I call out from the kitchen, "Kayla, do you have Bieber Fever?" She yells, "YES!"

I just let it go. As far as I know, she knows none of his songs and maybe only knows what he looks like from the back of a friend's backpack, so I think she was just messing with me.

Nonetheless, this morning while we were getting ready, I couldn't help but ask, "So, what do you know about Justin Bieber?"

She says, "He has a street named after him."

Hmmm... I thought... I like that answer way better than, "He's really cute and I like his hair." I breathed a mental sigh of relief.

"Where did you hear that," I asked, because at this point I was really curious. "From the computer," she said.

Well, duh. I didn't ask her if she'd read a Yahoo news story or how exactly she obtained this information from the comptuer, because really, did it matter?

The point is that my darling girl does not actually suffer from Bieber Fever. I am sure if she were old enough to have an opinion she would agree with me that Selena Gomez is obviously under some kind of spell, as if she's stuck in a really long and bad episode of The Wizards of Waverly Place.

In all fairness, I haven't even listened to any of his music and maybe today I will... or I will not. I just can't get past his hair. I admit it, I'm a haircist. Sue me.

Speaking of Halloween, Saturday night we went to the Haunted Hallway at Ellerhorst, put on by the Dad's Club and I believe, the 6th grade class. It was awesome. So scary. Though I asked Kayla several times beforehand if she was sure we should go she assured me that yes, she could handle it. About two-thirds of the way through the thrills and chills, she was very much quite over it.

I'm on the phone later that night telling my mom it was so awesome. Kayla says, "It was so NOT awesome and I think anyone who went to it, THEIR HOUSE WILL BE CURSED."

Harsh! Furthermore, when asked if she would go next year she said, "I will not go and when I have kids if they go to Ellerhorst, they will not go, either."

One of the reasons I like the kid is that she knows what she likes. And what she doesn't. And if it's so NOT awesome she will tell you so.

She's a Nut, Part 1 of Many

I'm in the office, finishing up a Facebook post before we get started on carving a pumpkin. For the record, I think I have only carved a pumpkin once before. If I have carved others then perhaps I've blocked out those experiences as a self-defense mechanism, but I only remember one time when the kid was maybe 2, almost 3, and we lived in Fairfield where we had a really nice big counter top (which might be the only thing I actually miss about that house and living in Fairfield), and I remember the kid sitting on the counter probably trying to "help," and I remember it was a very goopy and sloppy and messy thing to do. I'm sure Kayla's dad must have helped because that is really his kind of thing and why I would have been doing it at all, I'm not sure. Just to say I did it?

Anyway, I'm closing up the Facebook and I hear the PITTER PATTER PITTER PATTER that is Kayla running in her socked feet toward me. I turn around and say:

ME: Are you ready to get- (Then I notice she has on no shirt.) What happened to your shirt?
KAYLA: (Pounding her chest with both of her cute little hands) I'M GIBBEEEHHH!
ME: BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

When you're not expecting an "I'm Gibby" moment, and I wasn't, because we don't have too many of those in our house, even though we are absolutely iCarly fans (I am not ashamed to say it) and of course, Gibby fans. Anyway, the surprise was the key. The kid gets it.

Note: This will make no sense whatsoever if you have not experienced Gibby. If you have not experienced Gibby then you don't have a little kid or you've been wise enough not to get sucked into Spencer's (Carly's older brother) shenanigans (like when he made corn juice or grew a lawn in the living room). And if that is the case, I salute you.

I'm compelled to edit even though I'd already posted this because we got started on the carving, and I foolishly was holding the top of the pumpkin in one hand and trying to cut off some of the flesh with the other hand, thinking that perhaps I would do something creative... Did anyone ever see that Martha Stewart Thanksgiving special from back in the day, like I think it would have been on PBS, where she made the pumpkin soup and used a hollowed out pumpkin as the "soup tureen?" I think I remember this so well because a) maybe at the time I had no idea what a tureen was and b) I was probably thinking who the hell makes pumpkin soup at the same time I was thinking c) this lady is kinda weird and wonderful (I would kill to find a video or picture of that for you.)

 Anyway, not that I was gonna make pumpkin soup in a pumpkin shell tureen, but you know, something. So I'm FOOLISHLY (let's emphasize that) holding the bottom in one hand and the knife in the other and managed to get some of the flesh off before I SLICED right into my thumb. You know, the kinda slice where you put the pressure on it and take it off and then more blood bubbles out? Like that. So it's all gauzed and taped up and fingers crossed, I won't need any stitches but sheesh.

Here are the morals: I should not carve pumpkins. I should not be allowed to use knives or anything else that is sharp.

Because Kayla Says Funny Stuff and I Should Be More Organized About Recording It

And the question is... Why create another blog when I hardly post in the blog I already have? The title of this post is the answer.

I am always thinking about how fleeting this part of my kid's life is. You know, she's only going to be five for a year. Same with six. It was the same with with four. Thank goodness it was also this way with two and three (only sorta kidding about the way I phrased that). But you get the idea.

I feel like every single day she does something or says something and I think to myself, I want to remember that forever. So this blog is an attempt to help me do that. I love the idea of having something to share with her later so that, as the description says, she can see how much she's entertained me over the years.

Because she really has. She is like like the best anti-depressant that doesn't come in a bottle. She is joy personified. She is the reason I'm here. She's my heart. She is the best thing I've ever helped create, the best parts of her father and me all wrapped into a cute, sassy, crazy, opinionated, and ever-entertaining little package.


I hope to encourage everyone to think of ways to celebrate their kids. Maybe the fact that four people I know have recently added new babies to their lives is part of the inspiration for this blog. Kids are amazing. I look at these beautiful new additions to the lives of my friends and marvel at the fact that they have this incredible journey ahead of them, and it reminds me that it seems like only yesterday that I brought mine home from the hospital, a full-on base model human who lay there like a beautiful baby burrito, sleeping, crying, and pooping. And now she's this amazing little person with whom I have fantastic conversations. Nearly six years and in so many ways, it feels like it has flown right by.


I know, one day she is going to be a teenager and we are going to have plenty of times we get into it and argue (she is wired too much like her mother for this to be anything other than an inevitability) and yell things at each other that we wish we could take back. Perhaps the cops will even get called, and won't that be embarrassing? (I'm picturing us being really loud. I fear she is enough of a mini-me for this to be entirely possible.)


But in the meantime I am ever so appreciative of all the moments of amazement and awesomeness and just plain cuteness that result from just listening to her. I want to encourage everyone to listen and talk more to your kids. Sometimes they are just rambling. I mean literally, inexplicable crazy stuff that makes no sense except to them. But other times they are saying stuff that makes you go, "Oh my gosh, where the heck did they get that??" And I especially love it when something she says makes me laugh uproariously.


Last night we were watching WordGirl. One of my most favorite of all the cartoon shows. I am pretty sure I like it even more than Kayla does. Tim Botsford (WordGirl's dad and one of my favorite TV characters of ever) is talking about something and says, "Well, pepper my salsa!" Kayla and I look at each other and say at the same time (in identical  "that's just so silly" voices), "Well, pepper my salsa." Then we both start busting up laughing. I'm laughing now thinking about it. "That's so weird," Kayla said, "We said it at the same time."


Weird and wonderful and goofy. Like many a night at our house, fortunately.


Life is about moments. Sure, life is also about the mundane things that we have to do every day to keep the world spinning and whatnot. But while running to the store or getting the kid dressed for school or while watching TV together or as you're wanting to pull your hair out while watching someone with next-to-no attention span do homework there are these little moments that are seemingly nothing at the time, but in reality, as far as I'm concerned, these moments are what life is all about.


Cherish them and celebrate them because they come and go so quickly.


How will you try to celebrate special moments today?