I sometimes wonder how the world looks to my daughter. Simple things I take for granted she is trying to figure out on a daily basis. Even things as mundane as the syntax of a phrase can take on a whole new light through her eyes. For example, she had a really hard time understanding why we had to take a bath BEFORE we went to a baby shower. After all, we were going to a shower! I had to giggle at the type of party she thought we were going to.
She was watching television with my husband when an ad for a UFC fight came on. (I am not sure what they were watching come to think of it, since this commercial hardly seems child friendly. Water under the bridge I suppose.) She looked at Greg and asked him why the two men were mad at each other and was shocked to find they weren’t. “Then why are they fighting with each other?” she asked.
“That is just what they do honey, they get paid for it.” he replied. (Not sure I like the idea that he put this thought in her head… that she can make a living punching people, but again I will pick my battles.)
“Then why are they naked?” she asked. “Do they have to be naked to fight?” To be fair, the gentleman were wearing shorts but to my five year old shirtless means naked. Greg’s jaw just kind of hung open for a minute before he told her to come ask me. I changed the subject. Some questions are better off brushed under the table. Again, I pictured what must be running through her head. Men who must be naked but aren’t angry at each other get paid to punch each other while people watch. When you put it that way it does sound a bit insane.
This week though, we caught a rare glimpse into how her little mind works. She took my husband to VIP day at school and presented him with a picture she drew just for him. Along side it was a verbatim translation of who her father is to her; penned by her teachers straight from the horse’s mouth.
My husband, as drawn by my daughter. I assure you his hair is not multicolored.
The caption reads: “This is my dad. His name is Gregory. He looks like a big giant but he is actually 30. In the spring we go fishing. My dad likes to eat crab and sometimes he drinks water and sometimes he drinks iced tea. He likes to watch deer hunting. Sometimes we go to the grocery store we have lunch and breakfast. When my mom is at the hospital he tucks me in. My dad loves me as all the stars in the sky and I love him more than all the houses”
You see every night when we put her to bed we have the same ritual. We say, I love you all the way to moon and back or I love you more than all the stars in the sky. She replies with the largest thing that she can think of, like all of the butterflies on the planet, all the leaves on the trees or all of the houses in the world. We play this game a couple of times; adding all the fish in the sea or all the flowers in world before we kiss her good night.
I may not always know what she is thinking nor do we always do the best job of explaining the weird quirks in life, like a shower without water or two naked men fighting for no reason. At the end of the day though, she has picked up on something absolutely true. We do love her more than all the stars in the sky and we would go all the way to the moon and back for her. This she knows for sure.
a life just ordinary 