daddyville

At first, when my daughter said this and thrust her hairy little beast of a stuffed pet into my arms upside down, I thought nothing of it. Upon brushing up against this foreign and strange (to me) substance, I quickly realized that she had covered the 'hooves' with a thorough coat of something sticky and rather slimy. Eeeww (I think to myself). 

It then dawned upon me all at once what she had done. She had covered this stuffed animals hooves with the only make up product that she has that could have this kind of sensation upon contact: a clear and shiny.......(yep, that's it)........ lip gloss. Hmmmm.    I....see.....

"Yes, your pony is VERY pretty, I said. Why don't we go ahead and remove this stuff so that she doesn't get it all over you and your bed? You see, the thing is, everything that she touches will get lip gloss all over it and pretty soon she won't be wearing the lip gloss anymore and losing your lip gloss that way would be sad. It's much better to remove it on purpose...like we're going to do now, okay?  Here, let's wipe this off, I said as I grabbed a couple of dry soft cloths. Are there any other of your dolls or animals that you have made pretty with this make up ?", I asked kindly.

"Yes", she says.

"Which ones?"

"All the barbies."

Of Course you did. Silly me. 

You know, truth be told, I cleaned the lip gloss off of the little pony's hooves and then didn't look any further. I didn't want to know. Besides, I didn't want to leave mommy out of the experience entirely. That would be sad.

To my child's six year old ears I swear that I must sound like somekind of hawker of sub-par mechandise in an out door flea market on some uncomfortably humid Saturday when the 'no see ums' are nipping at your flesh or so it would seem by my daughter's lack of enthusiasm to follow my words to the wise, "Eat your breakfast. .......Please.? Pretty please?" You know the old sentiment "I feel like a broken record"?? This, my friends, is the place that it was made for. In fact, I'd even wager that it was a parent who said it back in the neolithic era somewhere...or before. Ha!

So, she looks at me with a definite lack of enthusiasm and I guess it makes sense since I was afterall, the one who made her rise from her superbly pleasant dream filled sleep to goad her to get dressed, brush her teeth, eat a good meal and then go to school. "Darn. These big people and their demands. Can't they see that I've got plans of my own? God dad, can't you forget about trying to give me the best opportunity for a good education, a house in the burbs and a fulfilling career?" (This is comedic irony here folks, not a serious sentiment. :) )

If I've said it once, I've said it 10,000 times.....and I imagine there are many more to come, "Please, please eat your food. Irony aside, it's just a really good idea to eat a full breakfast before heading off to school. What do you say Shayla?", I say.

"Awww Dad. Do I haaaaaave to?

"YES!"

The kids had a blast! They had it at a place here in Austin called The Hoppin' House. It's a nice, clean venue for kids to play inside. This place or the pool would be a good place to bring  in the Summer when we here in Texas experience those 100+ degree days: The Dog Days (of Summer).

I ran across this 'old' photo of my daughter Shayla hugging Lani, a friend of her's, when she was about 3. Shayla just turned 6 a couple of weeks ago. Three years may not seem like much to us, but when you're little, it's a lot. A lot of things happen in a short space of time when they're young. It stirs a daddy's heart to reflect on the changes that have taken place. 

Then (3 yrs.):

Now (6 yrs.):