War Ebook Available!
We see the final battle between the new gods and the old gods, and Kate and Daniel are trying to keep their secrets hidden, or they risk losing all their allies.
Yeah, her 6th birthday was last week (October 14). I haven’t blogged about it much because, well, I’m not a mommy blogger and I like to keep stuff about her private. But I’ve been watching her the past couple of weeks and marveling.
She’s smart – super interested in science, princesses, octopi, Dr. Floyd, Fairly OddParents, robots, LEGO, horses, Star Wars, looking beautiful, and pink. She’s inquisitive, gaining empathy, and a wicked wit.
me: (pointing at a firethorn bush) Those are pyracanthia berries, named cause they look like fire.
her: are they poisonous?
me: No, I think you can make jelly from them, if you have enough.
her: Yeah, poison jelly.
me: (introducing Jim to LEGO Star Wars, which she and I had been playing for a while) Jim, she’s more interested in playing the fun characters like Jar Jar and R2, so know you’ll have to do most of the fighting.
her: Yeah, Jim, I’m gonna die a lot.
me: (to Jim) Sometimes I feel like a terrible blogger.
her: Mommy, you’re an EXCELLENT blogger.
Scientists, I plead with you in a totally selfish way, please find a way to freeze this age. This is by far the most fun I’ve had as a parent. She’s smart, fun, and she still thinks that Jim and I are close to superheroes.
Because, according to Warren Ellis, I have only 7 years left, if that…
Share and enjoy!
14 Responses to The Pink Tornado is 1 louder
Get the GFL with Discount Code MUR
The Latest from I Should Be Writing- Scrivener review! February 3, 2012
- Fun website stuff February 1, 2012
- A different writing challenge January 31, 2012
- ISBW Special #46 – Stonecoast Writer’s Residency January 30, 2012
- Notice- No interviews for a while January 30, 2012
Oh Lord, that means I only have 12 left with my daughter!
I completely agree with your thought on freezing this age. It’s wonderful and mysterious and everything is new and exciting and sometimes overwhelming. It’s nice to be “DADDY!!!!!” and not “that’s my…dad…” which I’m sure is coming but hopefully I’ll have enough time to prepare myself for that day.
I’ll donate to that scientific cause. Kiddo Prime turned 6 last month (September 11).
He is still at the age where it’s OK to cuddle and give kisses before running into school, yet old enough to have an in depth conversation about the movies we watch together.
Goodness knows he’s arguably the most professional sounding podcaster that has ever been on Back Seat Producers before. He and I do an irregular segment called Booster Seat Producers where I let him go wild and talk about a recent movie we’ve seen.
I have a feeling that we should treasure this time while we’ve got it.
Send me a jar of that freezing juice if you get any. My daughter just turned 7 in August, and I’m with you on this age being the best — they’re still curious, but they know more, so it’s a focused kind of curious. I think it was around 6 that mine went from driving randomly into walls in Mario Kart to trouncing me nearly every time we played. Of course, my 3-year-old nephew was running around yesterday warning everyone that space aliens were coming for all the cows, so every age has its fun.
This post is a beacon of hope (albeit somewhat bittersweet hope) to parents whose child is now two and a half and in the midst of what we can only pray is a short-lived Defiant Phase. I’ve read that the average child hears the word “no” from his or her parents approximately 180,000 times before reaching adulthood. I haven’t seen any counter-statistics to back this up, but I’m pretty sure I heard my young apprentice utter, firmly state or shout the word “no” at least 180,000 times in the past week.
For me to suggest that we are deriving no joy whatsoever from this stage in his life would be grossly incorrect. He still makes me laugh every day, still says things that melt my heart, and still does things that are unintentionally, indescribably cute. But most activites with a “-time” associated with them these days (be it bed, nap, meal or potty) are met with anything from mild resistance to out and out mutiny. Even so, just today I picked him up and asked him to kindly stop growing so I can continue to pick him up, hold him and enjoy the rush of protective love I feel whenever he is in my arms. It’s a selfish wish, and sometimes I wonder if becoming a parent—which is supposed to make one more selfless, giving and responsible—isn’t the most selfish act of all.
My daughter is 8, and is one of the smartest people I know. She has a wicked wit as well, and sometimes I just really enjoy sharing a private joke with her. Her brother is 6, and is just getting over the “trying to kill myself all the time” phase, and he is pretty insightful too. I want some of that freeze potion too!
Things do change as they get older, but as they get older there are so many thinks that get better. My 11 year can make dinner for a family of 9, and loves to carry around the baby, and he is so proud of himself for being able to do those things. It is so funny to watch the baby’s face light up when he comes in the room. He is great to have a conversation with, and he is even starting to write fiction and is more that just, “And then the dino jumped off the cliff.” I could go on and on about his 9 year old brother or any of the other ones down the line, but the point is that it only gets better as they get older. Sure there are negatives, you loose some of your super powers, but I think sharing the secrets to those powers is just as cool as having them, and you can’t focus on the negatives, you have to take each moment as it comes. I love watching them grow into men and women that I would be proud to know. Of course I am not looking forward to any of them driving.
No, if you find an age freezing potion, don’t tell me about it. “Kids don’t drink the Kool-aide at Mur’s house.” I like watching them grow, it is part of life and I want it to keep going.
I guess it depends on your perspective. My kids are 15, 11, 11, and 10. I enjoy them SO much more now, but when they were 5 and 6 I remember thinking that I enjoyed them more than I did at 2 and 3. That’s why I would be a lousy mommy blogger; I prefer teens and tweens, and most mommy blogs are about much younger kids.
We have a son who’s turning 8. Still fun. Thought that blew my mind: If the next president serves 2 terms, by the end of it our son will be 16. That’s yer math, right there.
When my youngest was 5, I thought we would have to adopt another 5 year-old when he got older because that was such a fun time. Now my boys are 19, 17 and 13, and while I sometimes miss reading bedtime stories, we can do lots of different things together. The 4 of us froze together at a Bills game in Buffalo last Christmas, the youngest and I have developed a friendly Madden 06 rivalry, and the oldest and I used to go to concerts together (yup, I have a son who likes Bob Dylan as much as I do). So, much as I sometimes wish they were still small enough to believe in Santa, there are still lots of fun times ahead. However, I still would’ve liked some of that age-freezing juice around 10 years ago…
I’m not sure where the line is, but I think 4-8 are the best years. My 11 year old can be a lot of fun still, but he’s hitting that sullen pre-teen mood-swing thing that I could totally do without. My 3yo daughter is too much drama, but my 5yo aspy son is still in that realm of almost pure joy. Savor the PT years (as you seem to already be doing).
Don’t count on 7 years. Early-onset teenagerism can strike at any time.
You can say that again, Martin. My daughter is a month away from 11, and she started getting awfully moody/surly this year. I am not looking forward to 13.
I have come up with an Idea about children and their ability to survive. “Cuteness as a survival tactic.”
Altough I haven’t seen any scientific data supporting/disproving this Idea, I do believe that all children are born with a natural ability to appear cute and do cute things. So that they may survive long enough to be proven different. My own 2 children (son 13 and daughter 10) have shown this to me time and again, also most children I have encounted show this as well. If anyone has an opposing view I would be happy to debate this, or help with the study. ;P And yes they are entering that time of Madness that is teenagerhood…
Sorry for being too late, but I still want to congratulate you, Jim and the Tornado with this momentous occasion.