Lord, please save me from Hannah Montana.

Irina has recently discovered the joy of Hannah Montana through the miracle of streaming Netflix on our Wii. So far she has watched all of season 1 and most of season 2.

Look, we haven't had a lot of experience with "tween" shows up to this point. When we got cable (which we no longer have!), we all started watching iCarly, and when it comes to tween shows, iCarly sets the bar pretty high. I mean, yes, it's a tween show on Nickelodeon and it has it's moments of stupidity, but by and large, the whole family has come to love it. It's clever and funny and the actors are adorable and not awful. Hannah Montana is no iCarly.

Hannah Montana is difficult to watch at times. The acting is not great, they tend to drop plotlines, out and out change a character or plotline mid-season, it's predictable, and it's not really believable. Exactly what you might expect from a Disney tween show.

But I do watch it. Because Irina loves it. And I can see just why it's so appealing to her, as my little performer. The singing, the dancing, the over-the-top emotions and exclamations, the sheer girly-ness of it, and the pop star at the center of it all, Hannah. These are the things that won her over. And so I love it for that. I love it for the fact that when Irina takes the microphone for the Wii and starts belting out her made-up songs, now she reaches out her hands to give her fans (me and Pat) little touches, just like a pop star on stage with those in the front row. I love it for the fact that yesterday she found a pink hooded baby towel and wore it on her head as a wig, even going so far as to wear it to the pet store on our errands.

But. I have a tendency to pick up on the southern accents when I've been watching it too long. And sometimes the over-the-top exclamations too. And that's annoying, y'all. (To be clear, southern accents aren't annoying, the way Billy Ray and Miley Cyrus's speech patterns and catchphrases are invading my brain and coming out of my mouth is. Sweet niblets!)