Suddenly This Summer

I think there may be a tween in the front bedroom.

And, it hurts my heart a little bit, I tell you.

Up until about two months ago, the OG was very much still into "kid" things, personal taste-wise. Still listened to the Chipmunks and No! and Schoolhouse Rock to fall asleep, general TV preference Spongebob and the Fairly Oddparents, still playing with her action figures for long periods of time in her bedroom; that sort of thing.

But, sort of right towards the end of the school year, the OG comes home one day and announces that a new show on Nickelodeon called iCarly is her absolutely favorite show. We're all, herm? because, to our knowledge, she'd never watched it. Sure enough, though, she began to prove it, as she began turning the TV on whenever that show was on. (And, for those of you without kids, believe me, when Nickelodeon wants your child to turn them on, you will have NO shortage of opportunities to see that particular show. So we're talking like four times a day.)

Happily for us, it's a fairly funny show. Innocuous, but ever so slightly edgy, and - in a TV and filmdom first - it is populated by child stars that I do not wish to kick in the head. I'm actually kind of happy that the OG is firmly a Nick girl, as opposed to a Disney girl, as the hugest Disney Girl on the planet lives in the next bedroom over.

However, I was positively bemused when she started obsessing on the show to the degree that she memorized all the words to the theme song, and would dance around the room singing it when the show came on. And reciting the dialogue, verbatim.

By the way, quick poll interjection: Is it OK to say "suckish" on a children's TV show?

Is it OK to say "suckish" in a children's TV show?

• Yes.
• No.

Created on Jul 16, 2008

View Results

poll by twiigs.com

So, because I was so tickled by her, I bought her the iCarly soundtrack for her, as her first "big girl" music purchase. (Again, could be worse. Upbeat pop music, with some OK guest artist. Not too sure about that Avril Lavigne song "Girlfriend," though. I kind of wish she hadn't heard that one.)

God, I'm old.

ANYWAY, she began playing it over and over and OVER AND OVER and falling asleep to it every night and singing in her room with the door shut. Not reading Harry Potter, not rearranging her Millenium Falcon, but singing into a plastic microphone, embarassedly stopping and/or shutting her door when I catch her doing it.

All I can think is, well, damn, that didn't take long.

I totally dig everything about the older child that she is becoming, and how the earth becomes an easier place for her every single day. But, oh, she just gets taller and taller, and her physical self seems to have...shifted, somehow, into something that she was not before.

I'm probably overreacting. There's no sign of romantic interest yet, although she told me seriously a few weeks ago that she "might have a crush on William," but that she wasn't sure. When I asked her later, she stated flatly that it was absolutely not a crush. And, she could still wear the same t-shirt and shorts every day, morning and night, with not concern one about taking a bath or combing her hair. So, the girl is still very much there.

But, I think she's looking at her watch.