DECISIONS, DECISIONS! Another Monday morning rolled around for my silly sleepyhead, Kara. After weekends, it's even harder than usual to get her to roll out of bed. For one thing, there are so many more calamities on a Monday - stomachaches, weather considerations, and whatever else she can think up on the fly. Well, it was obvious to me after literally picking her up twice out of bed and moving her to the living room that this was going to be one of those days. We were on pace to run the usual "late on Monday" schedule we've obviously grown to love. By the way, I don't know what I'll do once she goes to "real school" where being on time is a necessity. So - finally, I had her attention, she was sitting upright, and the most serious look came across her tired, bed-wrinkled face, "Daddy, I need to skip school today." I told her that she needed to go to school and that her friends would all be waiting to see her. Kara replied, "No. I really need to skip a day or two. After that, I'll let you know if I'm going back."

HAVE A HOLLY JOLLY CHRISTMAS! One of Kara's favorite Christmas songs to sing is "Have a Holly Jolly Christmas". We never really paid enough attention to her rendition until recently when she stopped mid-song and asked, "Why would it be a holly, jolly Christmas and if you disappear?" We couldn't answer the question, but upon her next attempt at the song we understood. She was singing, "Have a holly, jolly Christmas in case you disappear" instead of "and in case, you didn't hear". It's kind of like the words to "Rock-A-Bye Baby". Classics gone horribly wrong! We cleared it up for Kara and now she's a lot more at ease about Christmas time and her prospects of sticking around!

HOW TO CLEAN YOUR PLATE IN ONE EASY STEP! Kara is a pretty good eater most of the time. However, recently ice cream was beckoning loud enough that she couldn't stay concentrated on the meal at hand - spaghetti. She usually likes pasta, but the promise of the upcoming dessert was too much. I finally told her that she had to clean her plate if she expected to have a bowl of ice cream. I walked out and by the time I returned, her plate was almost clean enough to put back into the cabinet for later usage. She smiled real big and bragged, "My plate is clean. Can I have some ice cream now?" It didn't take more than my initial look to discover that her idea of "cleaning her plate" was a different from mine. The plate was slightly tilted and from the highest corner, I could see a hint of her solution. She had taken all of the food off of her plate and had formed a mini-mountain of spaghetti UNDER the plate. Call me a bad parent, but her attention to detail in following my exact instruction provided for her a nice, big bowl of vanilla ice cream. Next time, I will specify to actually eat some of the main course and not just "clean her plate"!

I CALL THESE MINE! Tonight, Kara and I went to the YMCA. She loves going there to play and I can workout for a little while. What a great deal!

As we climbed into the car, she found a package of Skittles that had been left unopened on her seat. She quickly and quietly (as if I hadn't seen her pick them up) began opening the package. She slid a couple into her mouth. I caught her eye and as she discovered it was okay to eat them, she literally burst into song. It was a catchy little number about the joy that Skittles can bring a little person in a moment. This is not unusual for Kara. Everything turns into a song. 

"When things don't go right, you can eat Skittles. You can eat Skittles - they're so good...", she began. We had stopped at a red light and I continued looking over at her. A smile crept across my face. I was so amused by the cute little tune she had created. Suddenly, she gave me the strangest look, immediately stopped singing, and said, "Get your own!"