Ha! I know what you're thinking. You thought that I meant Shayla's Mom and I, didn't you? Well, that's not what I'm thinking of at all. Actually, I was speaking of Shayla herself.
You see Shayla is now 5 1/2 going on 10 and she is really starting to be a lot of fun. She has always been 'fun', but now she is really starting to get her personal groove on. The little person that she is, is really starting to come into sharp focus. She and I have been having some great conversations lately, which I have really come to cherish. She is becoming more and more 'able bodied' and is beginning to think for herself more and more. Our dialogue has been getting progressively more hilarious as the weeks have ticked by. We laugh together almost daily now. It's great. I'm really looking forward to the times ahead.
She's 'Got Me', I can tell you that! If she keeps playing me right--and it's a good thing that she's only 5--when she asks for those car/truck keys, I'd likely hand them over without so much as a fuss. There's no denying Human Politics, even Inter-Family ones, and if you know how to play it or sing it or bribe your way into 'it', then the sound or feeling of that to the recipient will likely look, feel, and taste like the sweet honey of human relationships that we all love so much. The wink of the eyes, the nod of the head, and the flutter of the eyelashes that's so the classic form of sweet manipulation hasn't found it's way into the annals of the great human books of poetry for nothing, no sir. There's a darn good reason why those antics are there. ...Because they work. My daughter who's 5 and a half already knows about it. I'm in t-r-o-u-b-l-e. :)
