September 19

I already posted about this on Facebook, but it's so amusing to me --and such a testament to how well I know my daughter-- that I had to memorialize it here, too.

This is a text exchange I had with Abby earlier today:

To give a little background, she recently began watching "Malcolm in the Middle" reruns, so when "Dancing with the Stars" premiered last night, I knew who'd be getting her votes: the former Malcolm himself, Frankie Muniz. She insisted on staying up and watching the entire show (and I let her, since I knew she'd just be awake in her room anyway), and then insisted on phoning in all 13 of her votes. Amused, I hit Twitter to share her great dedication. I was a little surprised when, this morning, I noticed that Muniz himself had liked the tweet. I knew she'd be completely starstruck, so I dropped her a text to tell her, and the above conversation was born.

She can definitely be sassy and feisty and, like other members of our family, she can be a wee bit stubborn when something burns her butter. But given that I wasn't sure if she'd ever be truly happy again after Logan died, these bursts of pre-teen exuberance are a sweet, sweet blessing.