{"id":11288,"date":"2011-04-05T12:46:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-05T19:46:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/momservations.wordpress.com\/?p=11288"},"modified":"2011-04-05T12:46:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-05T19:46:53","slug":"the-hand-of-awesomeness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/momservations.com\/index.php\/2011\/04\/05\/the-hand-of-awesomeness\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hand of Awesomeness"},"content":{"rendered":"

Momservation: <\/strong>Time marches on but mothers will always see babies when they look at their children.<\/p>\n

\u263a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u263a\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u263a<\/p>\n

\u00a0Baby Girl turned double digits yesterday.<\/p>\n

Seems like just yesterday I had to induce my pregnancy just to get her to come out, cooking away at 9lbs, 2 ounces, 23 inches long (affectionately nick-named The Lunker).<\/p>\n

A decade later Whitney is still deliciously stubborn and larger than life. She is the Pop Rocks in my candy bowl of life.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Four decades of rockin' Steven Tyler pulls in another fan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

She has also developed her first human crush: Steven Tyler of Aerosmith<\/strong>.<\/a> (Her first non-human crush was and still is Goofus, her stuffed monkey.)<\/p>\n

She became acquainted with the Aerosmith frontman watching \u201cAmerican Idol<\/a>.<\/strong>\u201d Then, suddenly, she got all giggly and silly and starting saying, \u201cSteven Tyler\u201d they way Squints Palledorous from \u201cThe Sandlot<\/a>\u201d<\/em><\/strong> (greatest movie EVER, BTW) gets all moony and starry eyed when he sees Wendy Peffercorn.<\/p>\n

When I asked Whitney, what exactly it was about a wrinkled rocker six times her age that appealed to her she said, \u201cHis hand of awesomeness just reached out and touched me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard to argue with that.<\/p>\n

Since then she has papered her wall with Steven Tyler pictures cut from magazines and printed off the internet. She\u2019s watched all the Aerosmith videos on YouTube. And of course she tunes in every week to American Idol for her weekly double dose of Steven Tyler.<\/p>\n

So it only made sense that for her 10th<\/sup> birthday she got what she wanted: Steven Tyler.<\/p>\n

At least in a way that her mother approved of and not on a creepy future groupie level – posters.<\/p>\n

True, it was a little early for pre-teen wall decorations of heartthrobs, but I think Steven Tyler as a heartthrob is debatable. He seems\u00a0fermented\u00a0and safe – mellowed from a shot of Everclear to a comforting merlot. Granted, at ten I think I had a Garfield poster on my wall. But later when all the girls had C. Thomas Howell <\/a>and Ralph Macchio <\/a>plastered on their walls, I had Tom Selleck<\/a>. So I sorta get it.<\/p>\n

And truly what I think Whitney loves about him is his music. I have always said I believe Whitney will marry someone who makes her laugh, but a guy with a good mixed tape might just snag her too.<\/p>\n

So when I couldn\u2019t find a Steven Tyler or Aerosmith poster around town (internet killed the poster store), I printed a 5×7 and 8×10 glossy and framed them for her. Her brother thought of getting her an Aerosmith greatest hits CD <\/a>(that he could then download to his iPod). And Daddy grudgingly approved a Visa gift card for her to go shop for anything that would satisfy her Steven Tyler crush.<\/p>\n

That night after the kids went to bed and I was picking up the piles of wrapping paper, ribbon, tissue and gifts I noticed Whitney\u2019s cache of Steven Tyler gifts still in the living room. I went to peek at my newly minted 10 year old who had refused to leave the womb but now was racing toward growing up. And there snuggled in her arms was not the likeness of Steven Tyler, but her first true love, Goofus.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Sorry Steven, you just can't compete with Goofus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

As it should be.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four decades of rockin’ Steven Tyler pulls in another fan – my newly minted 10 year old.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,165],"tags":[357,358,359,360,361,2,245,3,5,6,28,362,363,364,365,366,367],"class_list":["post-11288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-parenting-2","category-parenting-humor-2","tag-10th-birthday","tag-aerosmith","tag-american-idol","tag-c-thomas-howell","tag-double-digits","tag-family","tag-kelli-m-wheeler","tag-kids","tag-momservations","tag-parenting","tag-parenting-humor","tag-ralph-macchio","tag-squints","tag-steven-tyler","tag-the-sandlot","tag-tom-selleck","tag-wendy-peffercorn"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Hand of Awesomeness - Kelli M. 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