Learning Together

My wife’s cousin gave us three boxes of books, including what seems like the entire Berenstain Bears series. It has been a true delight to see my daughter consuming book after book over the past 24 hours.

All this reading culminated with her bringing two books to school and reading them–out loud–on the way home to me and her cousin. The best part? The books were humorous, and she not only nailed the words but the jokes too.

Each day, my daughter engages in some kind of imaginative play that leaves me wondering, “Where did that come from?”

It’s probably naive to think that I could find the source of every wackadoodle game she comes up with, but I’ve had too many epiphanies when catching a cartoon snippet or reading a book to her at night when I realize, “Oh! That’s where that came from!”

My reverse-engineering machine is running on overdrive today since my daughter just conducted a “brain test” on me. This test involved setting up an appointment, lying down on a pillow, getting put to sleep, having my brain scanned for food and exercise, and then having better “thoughts” inserted to replace bad ones (in this case, vegetables for peanut butter & jelly sandwiches). I’m not sure where her inspiration came from since she was talking about dachshunds on the way home this afternoon.

I hate to be paranoid about “mind control” lessons and school, but today’s “brain test” has left me with more than vegetables on my mind.

I make a podcast about the TV show Perry Mason. This afternoon, I was doing some “research” (i.e., I was watching one of the Perry Mason made-for-TV movies), and I got my daughter to show some interest in television’s greatest defense attorney.

My daughter was game. She guessed who the real culprit was, joined me in cheering on Perry and his private investigator Paul Drake, and celebrated when Perry used his brains and verbal dexterity to free his client.

“Is there another Perry Mason?” she asked once the case was won. Yes, I said. Yes, there are.

“I’m so glad you joined us for Game Night!” said my daughter as I stepped outside.

Though the weather was overcast, the temperature was perfect. I had on my work clothes–a button-down dress shirt and dress pants–with some grungy tennis shoes. I was ready for sport.

Game 1: Cats and Mice. This game was basically tag. I, a humble cat, chased after my daughter, a rambunctious mouse. Pretty soon, we were huffing and puffing. My daughter kept calling for a “pause” in the game, and I kept pretending she had said “paws” and tagged her.

Game 2: Dogs and Cats. This game was strange, especially since my smaller daughter was the dog, and I was the cat. She followed me around, attempting to scare me. I mentioned that I was indeed a member of the feline family, but I was no housecat. I was a lion. That changed her tune. Suddenly, she became a lion cub.

This evening, she fell right asleep. It’s almost like she was tired or something. Game night was a success. It’s supposed to rain tomorrow, so we may need to break out the Uno deck if we’re going to have an encore.

This afternoon, my daughter went to the dentist. She was great. In fact, she’s been consistently cool in her dentist visits.

It made me think of all the small things she does that are blessings, such as:

• Sleeps in until 8am on non-school days
• Avoids bathroom accidents
• Takes a bath every night without complaint
• Never complains about going to school in the morning
• Swallows allergy medicine every night without griping
• Eats a broader of variety of food than any of her three cousins
• Loves to show affection to her grandparents
• Loves to write and read (as in, will spend time–unasked–doing both activities)

When I add to that how healthy she’s been, it’s tear-inducing what a blessing she is and has been.

I’ve been disappointed by the repeated refrains my daughter turns to in times of trouble.

“I’ll never be able to do it!”
“It’s ruined!”
“It’s all your fault!”

So at the end of each day, I’ve been having her repeat after me.

“I’m going to have a good night’s sleep.”
“I’m going to wake up in a good mood.”
“I’m going to have a great day at school.”

This kid repeats the snippets of songs she hears coming out of my mouth. I’m hoping some of these new scripts stick too. Prayer and scripture are up next.

My wife’s two uncles live within half a mile of us. Both are retired, and you can see them on any given day motoring up and down the road in their respective golf carts.

Today, one of the uncles came by, and my daughter got to steer the car while her great uncle manned the pedals. Before the visit was over, my daughter had a Mr. Fingers to assist her trash collection and a special bucket for that trash.

At six years old, I would have given a lot to have a chance to drive a golf cart with a family member. At this rate, my daughter will have her golf cart license by the time she’s ten. This was probably the best lesson she had today: it’s great to be surrounded by family.

On Thursdays, my daughter gets together with her cousins after school. They play, eat snacks, and generally enjoy each other’s company.

Today, I showed up, and they were dressed up as knights. I was ready to take my daughter home.

“But we barely got to play!” she said.

“I can give you fifteen minutes,” I said. My daughter wasn’t buying and burst into tears. My daughter and I drove home with her cousins, looking away as though in the presence of a gruesome car wreck.

“If I could,” I said, “I would give you a stop card right now. I give star cards for reflecting, thinking, or caring. I give stop cards for ingratitude.”

By the time we got home, she had calmed down. I told her I loved her and asked what she would do next time if given the option to only play fifteen minutes when she wanted to play thirty.

“Say, ‘Okay.'” she said.

I hope it sticks.