"Are You the Daddy?"

I don't know how this question has passed down through so many generations, because it never works out the way it was intended. I know I will never use it again. At one point during dinner tonight, our daughter decided she was done regardless of how anyone else felt. She declared, "Dinner is over!" I felt differently about it and attempted to tell her by using this useless question, "Are you the daddy?" In response, she simply said, with her usual confidently devious smile, "Yes."

Perhaps we just failed to teach her who daddy really was. Despite our possible failures to teach, my son amazed me today by teaching me his technique for drawing snakes. I tried to follow every move, and our snakes turned out exactly the same. He made periodic inspections of my work and frequently gave me a thumbs up. It was a lot of fun, and he hung them right next to each other. On the other hand, maybe we aren't failing in our teaching as much as it seems sometimes. Our son said some very sophisticated things tonight. When asked whether he would be willing to draw another snake for his little sister, he said, "Surely." He also prayed that he could be respectful in his nightly prayer. Finally, I placed one of his toy snakes on his bed for him to sleep with. Not wanting that particular snake, he set it on the floor and said, "This one is just going to have to sleep on the floor." They are growing too fast!