January 19 – “Raising females”

Cailyn came over to spend the night last night.  Her Mom was studying and her Dad had to attend a class on different ways to rescue yourself when you are in a pickle and no one is there to help you.  I don’t think that was the actual title, but that’s how I remember what he said.  Seems like kind of a scary thought that they have to have a class like that for fire fighters.  In their shoes I would sure want a buddy with me if I was heading into a fire.  Of course there is probably no way I would intentionally head into a burning building anyway.  Unless maybe Chris was inside, or one of the little ones. 

Cailyn hasn’t been feeling well lately, so she was not exactly happy to see her Daddy leave.  She was crying.  He was hugging and fast talking so he could get away.  We had ordered pizza, and of course he chose about that time to drive up.  I thought that might be an adequate distraction, and it did grab her attention for a second or two, but not long enough for Nathan to make his exit.  The pizza guy recommended giving her some candy.  Sure thing.  Reward the behavior you want to stop.  I told him we were already counting on his arrival to help matters.  He was taken aback at first, but pretty soon he got into the spirit of things.  He started talking to her as well.  He did his best to calm her down, and it was a nice try, but not good enough.  I finally held her so Daddy could get to class and the pizza guy could get on back to work.  And of course, as soon as Daddy drove away Cailyn was fine.

Come to find out she had some secret plans for the evening.  We sat on the couch to relax and have a slice of pizza.  Cailyn, however, insisted she wasn’t hungry.  She whispered some plan or other to Chris and the two of them conspiratorially disappeared briefly and returned with a towel.  Strange.  They placed it on the floor in front of me.  Also odd, but if she wanted to sit on the floor on a towel instead of on the couch, far be it from me to stop her.  That’s when it got interesting.  She asked me to remove my houseshoes.  Some of you know where this is going, don’t you?  It seems she had brought along some fingernail polish, and my toenails were her next target.  OK.  Who am I to put a damper in a young child’s exercise of creativity?  I just didn’t expect it to be all glittery.  And yellow.  It didn’t hurt.  Kind of tickled, I guess.  Not an unpleasant experience, though.  The unpleasant was what came next.  She reached into her little bag of tricks and came out with some kind of lipstick.  No warning this time.  She crawled onto the couch and snuggled with me for a moment before whipping it out and pasting me with it right on the lips.  Tasted nasty.  And she didn’t stop there.  She some other stuff in a little jar that she rubbed on my cheeks.  I don’t even know what you call that.  I never looked in the mirror, but I felt like one of those Raggedy Andy dolls.  Or maybe a circus clown.  Both of which are frightening.  So this is what it’s like to raise little girls.

Psalms 59:9 says, “O my Strength, I watch for you; you, O God, are my fortress.”

Father, thank you for the glimpses we get into the life of raising a little girl.  It sure has made me appreciate the intricacies of your creation.  Amen.