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?