Daddy Issues Part 2. Tuesday.

Tuesday- A Target run. Kimmy was meeting someone from craigslist to liquidate a few 'tot' items that we no longer need. Elizabeth was forced into daddy-daughter time, she coped well, all things considered. After getting rid of a walker and a Bumbo, Kimmy came back to find lizzie sucking her fingers to cope with Mommy’s absence. Once back home, I returned to work. For the first time in a long time, I received an interruption from my daughter. Around 4:30 PM, Lizzie made her way into my office space.

“Do you need any help?”

“Um…” I looked around. It wasn’t quite quittin’ time. But I couldn’t turn her away. She was voluntarily placing herself in my presence (the girl was willing to work too!) “Uhh, yeah. You see that soda can on the table?

“Mmmhmm.”

“Can you take that to the trash for daddy?”

“Yes Yes!”

“Thank you ever so much!”

My mind was blown. I needed to manifest a workload for my daughter, and I had about 15 seconds before Lizzie came back from the trashcan in the kitchen.

“You need help with sompfin’ else Daddy?”

“Yes!” I pointed to a pile of clothes that I’d just made from dumping my hamper on the floor while she was gone. “Can you help daddy put these clothes away? They all go in the hamper over there.

“Yes Yes!” She went right to work putting each article of clothing back into the hamper. After I ran out of things for her to do, we went out to the den in search of a movie. She decided on The Secret Life of Pets. Lizzie had a picnic on the couch with daddy. Charlotte unfortunately still requires a highchair to eat, and a grown up to place food on her tray for face mashing. Lizzie cuddled up to me and commented on the hilarity of the pets and their antics. She got bored, as three-year-old daughters do, and left in search of a new activity- leaving me alone with myself to have an internal back-and-forth about whether or not a grown man should watch The Secret Life of Pets by himself. I determined after about 15 minutes that I should save the comedy for enjoyment with a child. I came into the dining room to find that I nearly missed dinner. Another first- Lizzie wanted to sit next to Daddy.

I was once again ‘on the list’ for bedtime. I got to read again. And again, she was out before we finished the second book.

For the first time I got both daughters to sleep in the same night. After Lizzie was ‘dead out’- as Smokey says all wildfires should be before leaving the area, I put charlotte to bed too after feeding her a bottle and getting her to pass out in a milk-drunken state on my shoulder. This is how bedtimes SHOULD be.