It all goes so incredibly fast. These words were uttered so often when I was pregnant that I stopped hearing them. But they are irritatingly true. So much so that I look at Alexa almost every day and think, “What the …? What happened to my itty baby, and who is this kid in front of me?”
It’s not just that she’s a kid and doing kid stuff. It’s that she’s a kid whose personality both matches mine and rivals mine. We are cut from the same cloth, but sometime in the middle of the night, when I wasn’t watching, she has sewn new fabric, new embellishments, new buttons, new zippers to this cloth. It’s not the same cloth anymore. It’s her cloth now.
The best part about Alexa’s blossoming personality is having real, actual conversations with her. And this kid cracks me up on a regular basis with her observations and humor. Here’s a sampling of some of the funny things she’s said lately.
When I impersonate Captain Hook:
“You’re not the sneaky snook! You’re my mama!”
When she was trying on tutus:
“I have a monkey tail now!”
When dropping her off at school one day:
“I wanna go to Hawaii. Please. I don’t want to go to school. I want to go to Hawaii.”
When an older girl acknowledged her by calling her a little baby:
“I’m not a little baby. I’m Alexa.”
When she asked me to sing the water song:
Me: What’s the water song?
Alexa: It’s a song I made up with my mouth. (singing) ‘Water, water, water.’
Apropos of nothing:
“My foot is very dangerous!”
To the door (after a footstool stopped it from shutting):
“Hey! Watch where you’re going.”
While watching the (very trippy) Lego movie:
“Hey, don’t freak me out, man!”
When she asks for something without saying please:
Me: What’s the magic word?
Alexa: Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo!
Oh, man. The funny things kids say. There are so many more where that came from, but this mama doesn’t always have the presence of mind to capture all the little moments. It’s better to live them, right? And to celebrate my baby little girl on a daily basis.
I was given the opportunity to create a personalized video on Stanford Children’s Health site that captures these small moments. What makes your kid extraordinary isn’t just the epic stuff. It’s the little things. The small moments that maybe only you see — and quietly celebrate every day. Click here for a peek at my video (it brings a tear to my eyes).
Your kid is extraordinary, too. Show them how much you enjoy every moment together by creating a special video of your own! It’s super easy and only takes a few minutes.
I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls Collective and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.
