The Parenting Files: Over breakfast this morning.

Last night (as sometimes happens) our big girl got in bed with us after having a bad dream.
And this morning (as frequently happens) we were woken up earlier than we wanted to be by our shiny faced, big blued girl child who had a giant happy smile plastered on her befreckled face. "Mommy", she said shoving her face right into mine, "Let's go downstairs because I am sooo hungry."
And I still feeling half asleep said, "In a minute sweetie. Why don't you go make your bed?"
I heard her little feet tricky trotting down the steps and then I heard the refrigerator being ripped open (no subtlety in a four year old) and the fruit bin being manipulated. "Oh good", I thought "She'll get herself a snack and I can snag another twenty minutes of blissful rest next to my beloved."
Wrong.
More little feet running across the carpet of my bedroom. As she wedged the ice cold apple against her squirming Daddy's side she asked me if I could cut it into fancy shapes like moons or stars. "Um, I can cut it into slices with my apples slicer." "No Mom, I want moons and stars."
"Maybe Daddy can do it."

And he did it. (After asking me under his breath if I had some way unknown to him of making fancy shapes with apples... I gave him a grin and said no. He was on his own).
He sat there and made some cool shapes: A circle, a rectangle and a half moon. His little girl sat assessing his handiwork and declared, "THANKS DAD. YOU'RE A GENIUS!"
Then she grabbed her moon shaped slice and scampered towards her toy room... mission accomplished.