Vivian loves to write notes of support & encouragement to her classmates. I’m all for it, as long as I can run interference and weed out the ones that say “I hope you will work on paying attention” and “You need to try just a little bit harder, ok?”

These are from her latest batch, addressed to pals Kaitlin and Aidan, respectively.

(Dear Kaitlin- Good work, sis / Dear Aid- Awesome job, son)

Two things immediately come to mind:

1. Kids are sponges.
2. “I hope you never lose your sense of wonder…”—and all the rest of that song that came out when I was in college and I used to make fun of  but now it all makes sense and I take it back, okay!?

When I was volunteering at her little Dr. Seuss event last week—aka the Mrs. Kimmel Incident—I was at a table with 4 of her friends, one of whom couldn’t resist the opportunity to reveal a secret about Viv. “Guess what?” she said, as Viv started protesting frantically and turning red. “Vivian thinks boys are cute!” I pretended not to hear it and just kept reading. You ain’t playin’ my kid like that, Mackenzie G!

Later that night, I casually asked her about it, and discovered that she was talking about a particular boy in her class who is on the petite side, and she thought he was “just so adorable.” She used the same tone she uses when describing her baby cousin.

I started thinking about the time I was set up on a blind date by someone who was obviously bad at judging distance, because the dude was 5’6″. And I don’t know what came over me—maybe relief that I had an automatic out—but I said “Well, look at you” and…patted him on the head.

I deserve some Trump-type admonishment for that. It was terrible! Horrible! Shameful! What the hell was I thinking?

One day, I will share this story with my daughters to illustrate some kind of point, or teach some kind of lesson. Maybe about not referring to people shorter than you as “darling.” Or about how to deal with your own insecurities without dragging other people in. Some crap like that.

For now, Viv, yes… boys are adorable. And so are you.

Also, I hope you dance.