Our Everyday

--Nathan's semi-occasional post--

First, I have to recount a typically great Sadie/Sara question and answer session, before I forget it forever...

Sadie: "Do snails bite, Mama?"
Sara: "No."
Sadie: "What do they do? Do they just make sticky situations on you?"
Sara: silence
Me: tripping over myself as I scramble for a pen to write this one down.

****

So, I finally feel like a real dad. Thirty-two years old, a father for four years, I've performed all the standard fatherly duties (I've even cut one umbilical chord). But not until the middle of July, 2006 had I finally uttered..."Don't run with scissors!!" Sadie has several activity and craft books that require scissors. We live in what they call a 'split-level' home. The crafting room is either two or three flights of stairs from the bedroom (depending which direction you go), and the supplies are never where the crafter needs them...you do the math. I wanted to explain to her that I did not intend to witness any more pruning of her flesh than I had in her first minutes of life, but, knowing her, that conversation would have led to more unanswerable questions, so I stuck to just the exclamation.

I'm pretty sure this is the time in parenthood where all too frequently I will be doing double-takes, thinking, "Did I really just say that??" I have to admit to a few others that left me incredulous:

"Because I said so."
"Don't play with your food."
"Taco Bell is hiring."

I know what all of you more experienced parents are nudging each other and saying..."just wait 'till those girls are 13."