I have a recursive loop that does a simple animation.  These animations are controlled by on page load & onclick of controls .carousel_item. 
LIVE SAMPLE JSFIDDLES CLICK HERE stripped down for simplicity purposes
Problem:  When Repeat clicking on the same control the animation will fire over and over.  I would like the animation to only fire once per carousel_item.  
UPDATEI would like the animation to only fire once per carousel_item. And reset when the following carousel_item is clicked.
EXAMPLE: Pushing 1 repeatedly will trigger the animation over and over again. I would like the first press to trigger the animation once. Next User mashes 2 this will retrigger the animation once and not repeatedly. User can still push 1 again for the mashing is all I want to prevent
Logically, I see the click unbinding itself and rebinding itself on click of another .carousel_item  that's my logic; however, I'm sure there's a better solution
var carItems = $('.carousel_item');
var sideitems = $('.side_item');
var x = false;
$(sideitems).hide();
fadeItem();
$(carItems).on({
    click: function () {
        $(sideitems).stop(true, true).animate({
            right: '4.5em'
        });
        $(sideitems).hide();
        fadeItem();
    },
    mouseenter: function () {
    },
    mouseleave: function () {
    }
});
function fadeItem() {
    $('.side_ul li:hidden:first').fadeIn(fadeItem).animate({
        right: '-4.5em'
    }, 150, function () {});;
}
HTML
<div id="carousel" class="flexslider">
      <ul class="slides">
        <li class="carousel_item"> <img src="asset/img/1600/slide1_1600.jpg" /> </li>
        <li class="carousel_item"> <img src="asset/img/1600/slide2_1600.jpg" /> </li>
        <li class="carousel_item"> <img src="asset/img/1600/slide1_1600.jpg" /> </li>
        <li class="carousel_item"> <img src="asset/img/1600/slide2_1600.jpg" /> </li>
        <!-- items mirrored twice, total of 12 -->
      </ul>
    </div>
      <nav class="side_nav">
    <ul class="side_ul">
        <li class="side_item home"><div class="text_links"><a href="#">home</a></div></li>
        <li class="side_item document"><div class="text_links"><a href="#">docs</a></div></li>
        <li class="side_item video"><div class="text_links"><a href="#">video</a></div></li>        
        <li class="side_item programming"><div class="text_links"><a href="#">web</a></div></li>
    </ul>
  </nav>
 
 
     
    