On the porch, there is a package. “Oooh, this must be Nariah’s bday present from the grand/greatgrand mother/aunt by way of Texas and Florida! Hmmm, this is a big box and I can’t imagine it having ‘minimal assembly required’. Guess this means I won’t be able to sit and watch the UNC/Dook game…”
I tried to keep this big ol’ box hidden from Nariah until Toya came home so that we could all open it together. But Toya had to run some errands, making it more time for Nariah to have an “accidental” discovery. Little did I know that this dollhouse would turn into some father/daughter time as Nariah shared that she was sad about school today.
“How ’bout you help daddy put together this dollhouse and we talk about your day at school?”
“Ok daddy!”
Children’s innocence and amazement at things we adults don’t even give a second glance is so precious. I open up the box.. “Whooooah daddy! This is a lot of stuff! This sure is going to take a long time! We better do it now because if we wait until the morning we’ll never be finished!”
As we lay out the pieces, Nariah actually ends up being the perfect helper, sorting out all the numbered pieces in order for me. “Ok… here’s your screwdriver, here’s daddy’s screwdriver. Let’s have at it! Tell me what’s wrong with school boo.”
Now even though she’s only four, this child has some real feelings. Turns out Laila told her today that she doesn’t like Nariah anymore, and then Abby pushed her in gym class. I think its too early to tell her that girls can be enemies one day and best friends the next, so I’m trying to rewind time in my mental roller deck to remember what it was like with friends in pre-school. The only thing friend/ex-friend related I could come up with was this girl (we’ll call her Nicole) that pushed me off the monkey bars and I landed headfirst on a rock. I still have a big scar on the back of my head to prove that event, but Nicole and I are friends even to this day. I share that with her and we have our heart to heart, talk about her feelings, and how she can let Lulu and Izzie know that she’s better than them anyways. Ok, so I didn’t tell her that last part, but I did think it.
“I’m done talking about that now daddy, can we finish up this dollhouse?”
Mommy’s home now and she’s come to join us while she eats her Baja Fresh at the head of Nariah’s bed. “Looking good guys!!”
Toya’s always helped me around the house; helped install the ceiling fan, helped put together the crib, everything, so its no surprise that Nariah wants to help too. Nariah gets to screw in every 4th screw and she is the happiest camper. So happy that she forgets she’s supposed to be helping me and starts picking out furniture and deciding where it goes in the house and testing out Barbie in the different rooms… while we’re (I mean I’m) still putting the house together.
“Ok Nariah, all done! Lets call everybody back and tell them thank you for your birthday present!”
“Ok daddy! Thank you!”
Ahhh, the “thank you” when nobody makes you say thank you. Those are the best! I think this child will take care of Toya and myself when we get old and have to wear diapers.
(clicking on the pics below will open them up for larger viewing)
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