117 Reasons Why I Love My Daughter...Or Rather, the Longest Blog Post You Will Start to Read...

I mentioned on Facebook my #117th reason for loving Tess:

Reason #117 why I love my daughter...she used the word "eczema'd" in a sentence.

"Did you put on socks because your toes are eczema'd?"

and Maribeth said she wanted to hear the other 116, so here they are as they come to my head. I don't know for sure if I haven't repeated something since I wrote this over many days. And it's possible that I haven't counted correctly. But here they are:

1. I love that she thinks she is really fast (as I think most kids do). And I love that she is so oblivious to how slow she really is! One day we were outside playing with some other kids and she was challenged to a race. She ran her little heart out with an intensity in her eyes and a beaming smile on her face...again oblivious to the fact the other kid was walking so that Tess could keep up.

2. I love that she has imaginary friends and calls them her "made-up" friends.

3. I love that her imagination is so wild that we had to ban one of her made-up friends from visiting her anymore because of the things she was suggesting Tess should do.

4. I love she once told me that God visited her in a dream to give her a burrito! She is my daugher.

5. I love that she loves burritos. Or at least that she used to. Her love for them has started to wane. She used to have one with beans and cheese most days. Then she started asking for them without the melted cheese--weird, right?! And now we don't have them as much, but she still does eat them.

6. I love that she says things like: "When I was a little girl..." And then will reminisce about the good ole days.

7. I love that she asks, how old will I be when I'm this tall and holds her hand a few inches above her head. Then moves her hand higher, "And how old will I be when I'm this tall?" And so on.

8. I love how she makes her brother laugh. Family prayer is now 10% praying, 90% telling kids to stop laughing so much. Jaime and I can get the kid to smile and squeal a little. But Tess is the only one that can get a deep belly laugh out of him.

9. I love that she practices sneaking up on people...and needs so, so much more practice at it. She thinks sneaking is just walking really slow around somebody. One time she and I locked eyes and I noticed she was walking slow, so I asked her what she was doing. She whispered, "I'm sneaking up on you." And then I watched her sneak the whole way up to me.

10. I love that she is my daughter, but is so different from me. I don't think she will ever deal with the social anxiety issues or fear of talking on a phone. And as I mentioned in another post, will start a conversation with complete strangers like maintenance workers as if they were old friends.

11. Along those lines, I love how confident she is in public. At the primary program, all of the other sunbeams had the primary leader help them with their line. But Tess made sure to lean over and tell the primary leader before she started her line that she didn't need help. Then confidently said her line.

12. I love how friendly she is. She says hi to everyone. EVERYONE.

13. I love that she loves to dance. And thinks she is trained in all forms of dance from ballet to hip hop.

14. I love that she misprounces things and refuses to accept the real pronunciation. To this day, she refuses to believe that in Peter Pan, they sing: "We're following the leader." She thinks it is: "We're following buh-leader."

15. Similarly, I love that she thinks Adele sings: "Uma has it." Instead of "Rumor has it." That's not to say that Uma doesn't have it.

16. I love that she is so well-behaved. I'm not a patient person and lose my temper with her a lot, but then I look at other people's kids and feel ridiculous about ever scolding Tess. And the best part is when we go out in public and some kids start misbehaving and I look over at Tess who has a face on that basically says, "What is going on with these heathens?!"

17. I love how girly she is. I would be just as happy if she were a tomboy, but she is just so committed to what she loves.

18. I love that she thinks the mascot for the Louisville Cardinals is the same bird from Angry Birds. She thinks I cheer for the Louisville Angry Birds.

19. I love that she doesn't wake up at 6 or 7 or 8 in the morning. Granted she stays up way too late, but she does let us sleep in. Unlike her no good brother.

20. I love her crazy hair that I have no idea how to control.

21. I love that she always wants to check the mail with me. It's our special daddy-daughter time. We always have to decide if we'll walk through the woods or take the paved path where she can walk on the elevated cement like it was a balance beam. The balance beam usually wins out.

22. I love that after we get the mail, she always needs to carry some of it. And she has to pick what she carries. It's usually the junk mail with bright colors and pictures.

23. I love that after we put her to sleep, she will sneak back out of bed to read books.

24. I love watching her eat ice cream and oreos and any dessert. I get her a sundae every time we go to the mall. They're cheap and I don't think you've really seen pure happiness until you've seen Tess eat dessert.

25. I love how good her memory is. She recalls so many things from her short life that it's just mind-boggling.

26. I love that she has a good memory and makes me laugh with some of the things she repeats that Jaime and I say. Like after someone says something interesting saying an over-dramaticized and long "Whaaaaat?!"

27. I love that she has a good memory but has never repeated the things that I have said while driving in traffic.

28. I love that if you ask her what her job is, she will tell you that she has a Hi-yah job. As in like a karate Hi-yah.

29. I love that when she prays for me to get a new job, she doesn't say: "Please bless Daddy with a new job." She says: "We thank you for Daddy to get a new job." She's a very positive child!

30. I love that her favorite restaurant is Moe's. For Christmas last year, her Grammy and Gramps even gave her a Moe's gift certificate.

31. I love that when I play soccer on the xbox, she'll come sit with me and ask which team I am, and then she roots for the other team...or the ref (who she thinks is on a 3rd team).

32. I love that she has really dark eyes and tells us that they allow her to see in the dark. When we drive at night, she will often tell me not to worry because she can see the road fine with her dark eyes.

33. I love that she is smart as can be, but still hasn't figured out how to count to 20. She can't get the teens down.

34. I love that she will just come give me a hug and tell me she loves me out of the blue, and not just when she wants dessert.

35. I love that she is very attached to her baby blanket. And that when I joke with her that I'm going to throw it out, she says that won't be allowed because she has to take it to college with her. As a side note, I had a security blanket that I was very attached to, so I wouldn't ever think of actually throwing out her blanket.

36. I love that she is a chicken. I do wish that she would go down the big slides, but her fear of heights and doing brave things should save us a lot in medical bills.

37. I love that she will often turn down another, tastier beverage for water. That's not to say that she will always do that. But she does like her water.

38. I love how much she loves her uncles. I don't know what she has against women, but she thinks uncles are the greatest.

39. I love that when she plays on my computer, she calls it "Computer School."

40. I love that she is artsy. Or that she loves to draw, color and paint.

41. I love that she thinks she can speak spanish. Or rather she speaks her own version of spanish. That's what she has told us she speaks...her own version of spanish. I think only she and her made-up friends understand it.

42. I love that when she talks about me in the past, she refers to me as: "When you were fat daddy..." It is both a slap in the face and a reminder that I don't weigh as much as I used to!

43. I love that she will often pick up directions to electronics or will read in our "How-to-not-kill-a-baby Books", and then say things like, "It says here that..." And then give some life advice.

44. I love how excited she gets about stickers and doesn't ever let the cashier at Kroger forget to give her those "I've been Krogering" stickers.

45. I love that when we go on roadtrips she will keep herself entertained with DVDs and books or sleep the whole way.

46. I love that she loves He-man. Thank you Netflix. I'm sure Jaime loves this about her too.

47. I love that she already knows who she is going to marry. And says things like, "When Peter and I are married..."

48. I love that she always wants to help around the house. One time I tried to punish her by making her wash the floor, and it really turned into a treat for her.

49. I love that she always wants to cook. anytime we make anything in the kitchen, she's not far behind pushing a chair up to the counter so she can join in. Usually to snitch some cheese.

50. I love that she snitches cheese!

51. I love how forgiving she is. She really is a happy child, and when you offend her, she will immediately forgive you and give you a hug if you apologize.

52. I love her laugh and how much she uses it.

53. I love that she offends her mother by passing gas more than I do. Sometimes it's unbearable what comes out of her, but I love that she understands a good fart joke!

54. I love that she has always made travelling so easy. Unlike her no good brother. She's always slept or entertained herself most of the way on our trips.

55. I love how she sees an adventure, where I see a disaster. Like when our car broke down driving home from Kentucky. I was not happy--mainly because I was stuck in a truck with a stranger for hours while he towed our car. Tess thought it was the best adventure, and a year later asked me when we were going to do it again.

56. I love that she comes to sleep in our bed a lot of the time in the early morning. And then I carry her back to her bed, but she's back in ours after a few minutes.

57. I love her voice. I've always thought she has the cutest voice. When she first started talking, I wished she'd never grow up and keep that same voice.

58. I love how interested she is in our faith. When we visited my sister's ward for Thanksgiving, she asked me: "Do they teach ALL the Lord's commandments here?"

59. I love how fun her super heroes are that she makes up. There is Punch Girl, Punch Boy, Super Hears, Mist, Quiet and Talking Quiet.

60. I love that her stories defy logic. For example, I am Super Hears. And she told me that Quiet is a baby that is older than me. He is 22 years old. She knows I'm 31.

61. I love that she has become obsessed with zombies lately--mainly because she talks about how they aren't from this earth. I'm a little afraid that she its scared of them, but I've tried telling her that they don't exist. Which she tells people, but then explains that they are from another earth.

62. I love that she asks me questions like: "How come you don't go to choir?" It's like living with my parents again!

63. I love that she puts us in awkward situations by repeating some of the lyrics on the radio that we wish her brain wouldn't remember. Like when she would sing: "There's a stranger in my bed." Or "Stripping down to dirty socks."

64. Along those lines, I love that she still mispronounces the letter k--she says it like a t. So that hilarity ensues when she asks if anyone wants to pet her kitty.

65. I love that when we try to correct her pronunciation, we will say things like: "say guh-guh-guh game. And she will respond with: "guh-guh-guh dame." Or "kuh-kuh-kuh titty."

66. I love when she plays by herself. And you can hear her chattering away to her different toys. I like to hide by the door sometimes and watch. When I was a kid, I can remember catching my mom doing the same thing, and I thought she was the worst person in the world for it. Not so much anymore.

67. I love that she tries so hard to keep me from leaving her room at night so she can stay up a little longer. Her best trick is asking for a hug and then putting me in a death hold so that I can't get away.

68. I love how she has an imaginary calendar on her wall and when I ask what song she's like to sing that night, she will often consult her calendar to make a decision.

69. I love that she asks what time it is like she really understands that concept.

70. I love how much she loves birthdays and holidays. So like the day after her birthday she was already asking when her next birthday is. It driving home from Thanksgiving celebrations on Sunday, she asks when Christmas is and had herself convinced it was the next day because it's the next holiday.

71. I love how her alter ego, Punch Girl, had a really sassy personality. And if you ask what Punch Girl looks like, Tess will make an annoyed face.

72. I love that I've caught her a number of times measuring her heighth using toilet paper from the bathroom. She prefers the standard length of a toilet paper square as a form of measurement over feet and inches. And I don't blame her. (As a sidenote--I also really get annoyed that she wastes toilet paper).

73. I love that she used to watch MythBusters with me and knew the names of all of the regulars on the show.

74. I love that we have our shows that we watch together. These are not the edunocational (that's how she says educational) shows that her mom wants her to watch. They include He-man, Phineas and Ferb, Farily Odd Parents, etc.

75. I love that she will play video games with me. She hasn't really figured out how to use a controller yet. But she does alright with the Kinect. I won't admit to having being beaten by her in bowling, but that may have happened once. She loves to play a dancing game--although it usually gets her frustrated. Most recently, she's been playing Kinect Adventures and doing really well.

76. I love that when she dances, some of the moves she uses are the Finishing Moves from our Xbox dance game. And she really likes a move called Head Rush. It's the one move she gets right.

77. I love that she really likes fruit. When Jaime buys pears, she does the normal thing of getting them unripe and waiting for them to ripen a bit. Tess is as impatient as me, so she continually asks if the pears are ready to eat yet.

78. I love that she says the word "mind" instead of "mine". And so we always have to respond with: "Yes, it's yourd." Because that's how we are.

79. I love how excited she gets to do simple tasks with me, like take the trash and recycling down to the compactor. We drive in the car and since it is in the apartment complex, I let her sit in the front seat. She loves that.

80. I love that one time I let her sit in my lap and help steer the wheel--really I just let her have her hands on the wheel, and when we got done, she said: "Well, that was easy."

81. I love the games she invents for us to play. Yesterday she and I played My Little Ponies. We each got 6 ponies and the ponies were in pairs. Each pair of ponies took a turn throwing themselves at the other team to try and knock them all over.

82. I love how good she is about asking to do things before just doing them. There are times when we find her eating a cookie that she didn't ask for. But usually she will ask to be excused from the table or to have dessert or to play a game. Or even to go to the bathroom--that will be good in school, but we've tried to stress that if she needs to go, she should just run to the bathroom!

83. I love how much she likes to play with Legos. It's something we can both share in. More than that, I love the things she creates on her own. Usually she will make cakes out of her Legos to share with the family.

84. I love that she will brush her teeth on her own. She told me a few minutes ago that her teeth were rotted and really needed to be cleaned. So, she went and brushed her teeth on her own. She makes huge messes with the toothpaste, but that's okay with me as long as she's brushing!

85. I love that as we're driving in the car, a voice will often come from the back seat: "Turn that song up!"

86. I really love that she hasn't figured out what the radio is. So when we hear a song riding in our Honda that she heard riding in our Ford, she will say: "This car has this song too!!!"

87. I love that she thinks that Netflix is the internet. There is nothing else on the internet in her mind because Netflix IS the internet.

88. I love that because she gets all of her TV watching from Netflix and DVDs, the first time she really watched some regular TV with commercials she was just furious. Every time a commercial came on, she was convinced someone had changed the channel, and she would yell: "No, I don't want THIS movie!"

89. I love that she thinks the geese down in the pond near our place are her pets. She's even given them very clever names: Goosey and the Boy. The Boy could quite possibly be a girl actually, but in Tessa's mind, her geese are a couple.

90. I love that she has favorite underwear--the Dora ones. Before that, it was the unicorn ones.

91. I love how much she loves to read stories. On her own and with us. Usually that is the punishment for not doing something she's been asked to do--No Stories. It's devastating.

92. I love the stories that she makes up. I plan to turn these into comics like I did one before. This is one she told me one night before bed: "Once upon a time there was Pacha and Sleeping Beauty. They didn't have any kids and they were married and went to see the emperor. He said, "Who is your wife?"

And Pacha said, "Sleeping Beauty."

And the emperor said, "Oh."

Then Sleeping Beauty had too many kids. Too many. And there was a little baby. And it couldn't talk. And then a giant bug came! Ach! And then...there was a witch! And the witch was very bad. And they flushed her down the toilet. The end."

93. I also love that she came up with this story:

Once upon a time there were lots of princesses. There was Sleeping Beauty and Ariel and Rapunzel...and...Flynn Ryder...and Snow White.

And then there were claws and a sorceress. And the princesses went to the sorceress and she got them. And *mumble, *mumble, *mumble [I wasn't able to pick up what she was saying in this part].

And the princes had to come. They found her and the claws scratched them and then they were saved. And they all lived happily ever after.

Oh, and Belle and Cinderella were there too.

94. I love that she can sit through an entire movie. I should be ashamed of myself for letting her watch as much TV as she does, but I feel for parents that have kids with short attention spans and ADD. And even though she watches too much TV, she can and will keep herself entertained with one game for hours.

95. I love that she has favorite songs/music videos. Right now her favorite is "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. She calls it the Cowboy song because she thinks they are dressed as cowboys in the video.

96. I love that she will stop what she is doing if she hears her favorite songs and will run to another to find the source of the music. At Thanksgiving, my sister Kellie kept experimenting with this. She would wait until Tess would go into another room and then she would turn on a music video on youtube on her phone. And sure enough--usually after like the first 4 notes, Tess would come running in, "The Cowboy Song!"

97. I love that she is the only granddaughter on my side of the family. I'm sure she'd love some girl cousins, but it's fun for her to be the only princess amongst all the stinky boys.

98. I love that she already has a sense of justice. The other day, I needed a place to sit on the couch. Tessa's mom can't stand for junk to be on the floor, but is more than okay with all of that junk being on the couch. Just as long as it's not on the floor. I'm the exact opposite. So, when I went to lay on the couch, there was no room because of all the stuff. So, I threw a minor hissy fit (I was sick too) and threw everything into a huge pile on the floor. Later that day, I wanted to clean up the living room with Tess. So, I asked her to help me with that junk pile. She very quickly reminded me that I had made the mess, and it simply wouldn't be right for her to clean up my mess.

99. I love that she is easy to please most of the time. A quick walk around the apartment complex or a quick trip to the mall usually goes a long way for her.

100. I love that she gets so excited to go to see her grandparents. That's the way it should be.

101. I love that she is such a smart girl and gets smarter every day. Jaime took her to Target the other day to waste her last little bit of money on Ponies. The pony she decided to get cost $9. Tess had $10, and Jaime asked her if she spent the $9, then how much would she have left. And Tess was able to figure out that she would have $1. I was really impressed by that because we haven't really done any sort of math with her up to this point.

102. I love that she loves me now. Apparently she hasn't always. Once I showed her a picture of her and me and Jaime. And she said:"That was when I didn't love you. But I love you now." What a weirdo.

103. I love that when we asked her the other day what Christmas is all about, she didn't say presents. Her Papa will be very proud to know that she said Jesus.

104. I love that she will go a whole day wearing an item of clothing inside out or backwards. And when someone calls her on it, she will adamantly claim they are in the wrong. Then look at her tag and sheepishly change it. If she were completely my daughter, though, she wouldn't switch it.

105. I love that she will tell you she is a real princess because she curtsies. Or other things like that.

106. I love that she is a multi-tasker. She is currently playing Xbox Kinect with most of her body while stuffing her mouth full of preztels with one hand.

107. I love all the little things about her. Like that she finds so much enjoyment from playing with a flashlight. I just wish she would turn them off.

108. I love that one of her most favorite activities is pretending to be characters from the scriptures. And I love that George is usually given the role of being the bad guy. But sometimes she decided to be the bad guy...who has seen the errors of his ways and is now good.

109. I love how much she likes to take photos. I like to just hand her the camera and let her go crazy. And it's been fun to see what pictures she takes with the kid camera that she got for Christmas last year from my parents.

110. I love that she will play with anything. One time I got home from work and she had been playing with all of the cans and jars on our shelves. I don't just mean like organizing them. I mean that she will pretend like they are people and they talk and interact with each other. She does the same some times with her crayons and other objects that you wouldn't expect to be played with in that way.

111. I love that when we play on the Xbox, her character has to be a girl. In Kinect Sports Bowling, it doesn't always let you pick genders when you set up a game for 3 people quickly. So Jaime often has to bowl as a man because there is no way Tess is going to do that.

112. I love that when I say to her, "Aw, come on, man!" She quickly responds with: "I'm not a man."

113. Similarly, I love that she defines herself depending on the situation. If she wants to do something that I don't think she's old enough to do, she will explain to me that she is a "Big girl" and can handle it. But if she wants to do something that I don't think she should do anymore at her age, she suddenly becomes a "Little Girl" again.

It gets really confusing when I want her to do things that I think she is old enough to do, but she doesn't feel the same way. Like go down the big slides. In that case, she becomes a "Little Big Girl." While still being in the big girl classification, she is still too little to go down the slides. Conversely, she is sometimes a "Big Little Girl." There are very subtle differences but they matter!

114. I love that when I'm driving, she will often ask me if I'm going the right way. Even if I haven't given any indication of being lost. Even if we're leaving the apartment complex going the one and only way to exit. And then a few minutes later, she will usually ask again if I'm still going the right way.

115. I love that she has little dimples in her cheeks near her mouth. And after dinner, she will go wash her face and come back excitedly saying: "I cleaned my face and my dimples are back!"

116. I love that every day I love her more and more.

Total cop out on that last one, right?

That's it!