It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of the statistics. Numbers in general really do it for me. So it may come as no surprise that I regularly track the traffic of this blog, including which Web sites people visit before coming here. Yes, I can do that. And if they come here as a result of a search engine, I can track the search terms they entered. Fun!

Just this week, people have found themselves reading about me and my family because they first searched for the terms “bubons“, “nude paintball“, “hang up“, and “dirty baby“. I love it.

The #1 all-time search engine term that has lead people to this blog? “13th week of pregnancy“. Crazy, right? The #2? “infant visual stimulation“. Wild. The #3? “student id template“. That all makes sense. I’ve written about all of these topics at one point so it is no surprise that I should appear as a search result on Google. Predictable statistics.

But just in the past month, a new search term has been leading people to my blog at an unprecedented rate. That term? “pictures of hedgehogs“. Yes, I did write an entry about Emily wanting her class name to be The Hedgehogs. But why did this massive influx of people begin precisely one month ago? What cosmic event occurred that made people start searching for images of hedgehogs? And why did it suddenly stop just yesterday? Just like the question of why we dream, we may never know.

Josh’s Blog Top 11 All-Time Search Terms

1. 13th week of pregnancy
2. infant visual stimulation
3. student ID template / fake ID
4. smart people
5. philip glass buys a loaf of bread script
6. mommy
7. baby boy pictures
8. twisted spine
9. joshua zamrycki
10. my boys can swim
11. kowabunga