Kobayashi Maru

So this weekend I came home from some work related activity to find Ferf and the Muppet deeply engrossed in a Dora the Explorer episode. Dora being the greatest preschool show currently running in North America. Which is why, even though I live in a country that is technically bi-lingual English and French, the Muppet learned to count to ten in Spanish at the same time she did in English. AND why when I grabbed her the other day and held her and she said, “let me go daddy!!” I said, “what’s the magic word?” she said ABRE! But I digress, this post is not about Dora - besides, I personally think that the Backyardigans could seriously kick Dora’s arse any day…

So I come home from a day long fantasy baseball draft - a league that, I might add, I have won 3 out of the last 4 years. I love the fact that a bunch of Canadians get together every year to show that they do not understand the great American sport of baseball - and to prove it, they give me their money year after year. I do love this part of Canadian culture!!

ANYWAY…I come home from that day, which by the way might have been the greatest fantasy baseball draft of my career, and find my family firmly ensconced on the sofa watching said TV show. Being the adaptable guy I am, I snuggled up to the Muppet. She turned to me and asked if daddy was going to cuddle and “watch a little TV” with her. I told her that of course I was, that there was nothing more in the world that I would rather do. At that point the Muppet turned away from the show crawled up onto my lap, put her arms around my neck and said, “You’re a good man daddy!”

Now, I have no idea where she heard that…one would hope that she heard her mother say that …over and over and over again in many different places in front of many differnt people…however, I really don’t know. Whatever the case, I am glad that she heard it and more importantly (to me at least) that she repeated it with perfect spontaneity and phenominal timing.

I love 2 1/2 year olds - well, mine anyway. The Muppet’s verbal skills are so much fun - especially because she has such a great way of looking at things. Her personality is really asserting itself and it’s a lot of fun. For instance, the other night we were going to some friends house for dinner. That afternoon, I was telling the Muppet about it so she knew what the day held (she is so much like Ferf in that way - MUST KNOW DETAILS!!). Before I put her down for her nap, I told her whose house we were going to for dinner and she jumped up on her bed and said, “Oh boy Daddy they have besert!” (which is Muppet speak for dessert) Besert is a big thing in the Muppet’s world. Huge really. Almost as important to her as her special Aunties and Uncles.

One set of them was in town this weekend. Badger and the goddess had come down from the freakishly frozen north to party with us and others. Now it is important to note for the purposes of this post that prior to the current incarnation of the Badger becoming the Badger, he was J-Dog. So to the Muppet he was introduced as Uncle J-Dog. She promptly renamed him, due to an unfortunate mispronunciation, Uncle Gay-Dog. (So if you find yourself over on the Badger’s site, feel free to give Uncle Gay-Dog a shout out.) It was over all a phenominal weekend. Aside from the Badger and the Goddess being here, Coastal and Bear were here too. It was a weekend fest of bloggers! It will be interesting to see if the others talk about this weekend on their sites as well. I have never laughed as hard as I did that night. It was like having the top smart asses in the province together for a diner party. Mostly because that is exactly what it was. I can’t wait for the next one…

In the meantime, we await the opportunity to have the Muppet’s Big Girl Party that will take place when she goes potty 10 times in a row with no accidents. (Because that is evidently what it takes to officially become a true big girl according to Ferf and some strange connection to Dora that I don’t really understand.) So until the Big Girl Party happens, we continue to watch and wait and hope that the Muppet doesn’t paint on the walls with poop like Champagne so lovely suggested in her comments.

In the meantime, did I mention that she said I was a good man?!