The Little Things That Just Go Away

I'm not sure how long ago this happened but I just noticed it recently. When Emily is done talking on the phone to someone she's close to like me or mom, Nan-Na or Pop-Pop, her sister Katie, even Aunt Amy or Auntie Sue; Emily would always end the call by blowing us a kiss before hanging up. I felt especially lucky because I also got a hug with my goodbye kiss. If you wonder what a hug sounds like on the phone go find someone you love and give them a great big hug. Listen to the sound you make and that is the sound that Emily would make for me. She came up with this sound and ritual on her own. Sadly, these rituals have faded away. I can only guess that as Emily has begun to speak to more and different people on the phone even she recognizes that not everyone gets a kiss and telemarketers don't deserve hugs.

Love,
Dad

It's all in how you say it

Driving home today Emily Grace asked me a question that had no good answer. "When will we be home and can I watch Curious George?" Well, Curious George was already on and traffic wasn't moving very fast, so my answer was "maybe." Emily's response from the backseat? "I don't like the sound of maybe. I like the sound of yes." Where do they come up with this stuff? Don't point your finger at me.

P.S.This picture is a self-portrait, using the timer on her camera.

Love,
Dad

What's a "dick?"

Emily Grace and I were driving home from Lowe's today and Emily was reading Maisy's Wonderful Weather Book by Lucy Cousins;Emily is working very hard, self taught, to read. Out of the blue from the backseat comes the question "What's a dick?" After managing not to swerve off the road and into a tree I said "Excuse me?" She said "A dick, what's a dick?" I told her I didn't understand what she wanted to know. She tried to show me the book where she was reading and then told me it said "A hot dick." Once again, managing not to swerve off the road and into a tree I asked her to spell the words for me. She had "hot" correct, did I mention that Emily is four; but the second word was spelled "d, r, i, n, k. She still has a lot to learn.......... Thank God.

Love,
Dad

Was It Something I Said?...

Mom has requested this entry.

After talking to Emily Grace about who knows what. Emily turned around and announced "Sometimes I just don't know what my dad is saying." This is from the child who would like "cream of the ice" or "berries of the straw" for ice cream and strawberries. Consider the source. By the way, Mom says she knows where Emily gets it from; but she won't tell me.

Love,
Dad

P.S. The boycott of the cat lasted fifteen minutes.

The lion roars.........

Emily Grace is not one of those kids that listens to my good advice, or suggestions or even pleas for sanity. I guess that makes her just like me. I was the kid with his head, hands or feet stuck in something that required the jaws of life to free. Thank God my dad was a doctor.

Emily thinks her cats are little people and she's constantly in their faces talking to them and being pushy. Cats being cats, Tigger took a swipe at Emily Grace and left her with two scratches across her face, including a good one on her eyelid.

After the tears and guilt from me Emily agreed to stay away from Tigger for four days until Tigger learned to be a better friend.

Look for a repeat of this story in five days.

Love,
Dad

Now I Know....

I was working in the back yard and Emily Grace came to the window and yelled out "If you need any help just call me." I called back "Thanks." Emily Grace responded "Dad! I was talking to Tigger." (our cat). The pecking order used to be mom, dad, sisters and then the cats. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Love,
Dad

What kind of bad dad am I?

As you can tell from the widening gap between posts that keeping up with Emily Grace is becoming more challenging, daily. I don't necessarily mean that in a negative way, although there are days... Emily has not only survived her first year in pre-school with me but now finds herself "promoted" to mom's room for this school year. The first thing Emily noticed in mom's room is that there are a lot more rules. (that's why mom is considered the gold standard) Emily has pointed this out to her mother to no avail. Emily's language has also been developing at a tremendous rate, primarily in the way that she uses language and puts thoughts and concepts together. She asked me the other day to "plug the toaster out" or un-plug the toaster. We had pork chops for dinner the other night and Emily got down out of her chair, walked around the table to me, cocked her head to one side and said "these pork chops are not working for me." I told her that dessert would not be working for her either if she didn't finish eating her dinner. The look of shock and dismay was worth the price of admission. Today Emily wanted to know if silly putty was waterproof. I told her that I wasn't sure but if she put it all in the water it might be ruined and I didn't want to hear any crying. I then asked her how she could figure out this problem. She told me that she would take a little tiny piece of silly putty and just test that and see if it was OK. I thought "Wow!" there are kids in fifth grade who couldn't figure that solution out on there own. Do you see why these blogs are getting farther and farther apart?.....

Love,
Dad