Life According to Kiera: List… Check!

Written by Rowonna McNeely – “Grandmommy is going to pick you up from daycare today. Ok, baby?” I said as I brushed out Kiera’s hair.

“Oh, yeah!” She responded excitedly.

 “You know what we need to do?” She asked as I began to braid her hair. “We need to make a list!”

“Ok…” I responded, trying to decipher where she was heading with that train of thought.

“Daddy, can you get me some paper, please? I need to make a list of when our truck picks me up and when Grandmommy’s car picks me up.” She continued on her voice rising in excitement. “Then I can make tally marks so we know!”

My little list maker… she is all about the details. That afternoon, my Mom texted me a picture of the list Kiera had made for them to follow when she arrived at her house.

First, they had to water the flowers, which they did. Second, Kiera decided they needed to wash the windows of the house. It only took one window for her to decide that was plenty. And third, they were going to sit down and relax. She even made a little box out beside each item so that she could put a Y for yes when the task was completed.

Her attention to detail astounds me… and sometimes it overwhelms me. For example, we are planning her birthday party.  Kiera decided on a Mermaid Princess theme birthday this year.  Of course, it could never just be a simple Mermaid party. We have to tack on Princess.

As we began to talk about ideas, it quickly became apparent that she had it all planned in her head. She proceeded to rattle off games, decorations and other ideas.

Her oldest sister offered to build a piñata for her birthday.  (Check out Small Town Designs on Facebook!) “What kind of piñata would you like, Ki?” Aaron and I asked her. We expected something semi-simple.

“I think I would like a tan seashell with my name on it in pink.” She responded. “It can have a bow at the top on the left too.”

Aaron and I blinked for a moment and then scrambled to write the details down.

Last night, she and I sat down in front of my computer to look at cake pictures to get ideas for her party. “What kind of cake do you want, sweetie?” I asked.

She climbed on my leg and said, “Well, I think I would like vanilla cupcakes and a chocolate cake. For the cupcakes, we could do a mermaid tail with water around it and some of those pearls you can eat.”

Pushing her hair behind her ears, she continued, “Then for the cake, we could do the blue water too, but maybe have a little bit of beach? We could add the sprinkles on it and if you can do it, you could even add people off to the side.”

I think she may have seen the fear in my eyes when she mentioned adding people to the cake. Mermaid tails, edible pearls, water made out of frosting; I can do that. You want me to make little people… we have a problem.

“Well, we don’t have to have the people on the cake.” She hastily added.

“Umm… ok…” I responded, trying to remember all the details she had just spouted off. “Could you grab Mommy’s phone so I can make some notes, please?”

I have no idea where she gets her fondness for lists and details. Now, if you will excuse me, I need to make a list for what I need to get done before her birthday party.

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