Baby girl and I earlier this year…

What an amazing weekend! I was waiting in the car with baby girl while the men folk were in Wal-Mart, going through my Twitter timeline and listening out for lyrics that may not be age appropriate for a 6 year old on Radio Disney (my attempt at not being the fun police is turning on Radio Disney).  I have to pay attention to stuff like that – she takes lyrics to songs literally which leads to terribly uncomfortable, albeit necessary, conversations between the two of us. Canadian-Jamaican blogger, @beesince83 was happy about being a finalist in the Black Weblog Awards. Wait – finals, already?

Baby girl was behind the wheel singing some sugary sweet, autotuned pop song at the top of her lungs, but it was quickly drowned out by the sound of my heart beating in my ears. SocaMom.com was up for two awards… I clutched my imaginary pearls, held my breath, and clicked on the link.

Scrolling…. Scrolling… then, there it was. Wait – there it was again!

*faint*

I plucked baby girl out of the driver’s seat, turned down the radio, and said to her, “I have some great news.”

“What is it Mommy?” she said.  I could see her eyes glowing a little. Usually, if it was just the two of us like this, the news was that I had some secret piece of candy to share, or a game on my phone for her to play. The glow was at the possibility of getting something sweet that she didn’t have to share with the boys… and the reflection of the light from the radio display.

“I am a finalist in the Black Weblog Awards,” I answered.  She didn’t deflate like I expected her to. She hugged me tight around my neck and said, “Wow, Mommy!” with enthusiasm that was usually reserved for the receipt of special treats.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about do you.”

“Nope!” she said with a smile.

I laughed.  Not sure if it was because she was genuinely happy for me even though she had no clue what had just happened, or if it was because I always laugh a little now that her two front teeth are missing.  That whistle when she talks is hilarious.

“That’s okay. You know SocaMom.com, right? Well, people liked it enough to vote for it to win an award.”

“So you won?” she asked.

“No, they have to vote again, but this time, there are less people to choose from.”

As she struggled to maintain her level of excitement for something she didn’t fully understand, I turned back up the radio, and we danced in our seats to “Justin Beaver” and a couple of his clones until the boys returned to the car.

I told them, and they were excited for me, but I was really happy that I had the chance to share that moment with my baby girl.  I remember when my mom would have an amazing moment in her career, she would always want to share it with me first.  I can remember when she was going to have the first office that was all hers, not rented, and she spread the blueprints out on the hood of the car to show me how her long nights of scribbling in her notebooks had developed into this ideal building that was about to be real.

Like baby girl, I didn’t know all of what she was doing, but I knew that it was important to her, and that was all I needed to know to genuinely celebrate with her.

Today’s 10 by 10 challenge is to visit 10 of the finalists so that you can make an informed decision and cast your ballot. It would be fair for me to visit every single blog and write about each of them on the same day – and I like to be fair.  Since that will be near impossible, you won’t see my usual list of blogs to visit.  I’ll just say to go to http://www.blackweblogawards.com and click on the links that lead you to the sites that are in the finals.

SocaMom.com is up for Best Parenting Blog and Best New Blog. You don’t have to vote in every category in order to complete the ballot.  You can only vote once per computer.  To vote for SocaMom.com, go to http://www.blackweblogawards.com/vote-here/.  I appreciate your vote in the semi-final round, and your continued support in the finals!

Press? Download the press release:

Caribbean Parenting Website SocaMom.com is Chosen as a Finalist for Best Parenting Blog and Best New Blog in the Black Weblog Awards 2012