My first telephone call, completely with Maia

"Hello," she said.

I had expected Kristina on the other end.

"Well, hello, Miss Maia Bobaia."

"Hello, Daddy," she said.

"Daddy," she said. And then her voice racheted down to a whisper, "Daddy, Daddy..." (sometimes it takes her a while to figure out where she's going)"Daddy...after dinner, I want popsicle."



I laughed. It had been a difficult day. This bit of conspiracy coming at the end of it was very sweet.

"Okay, sweetness, you can have a popsicle."

"The brown one," she said. She likes Fudgsicles. "You can have one, too."



"Well, thank you, sweetie. Where's Mommy?"

"She's in the kitchen," she said. "She's cooking dinner."



"Okay. You tell her I'm coming home, soon, okay?"



"Okay, Daddy," she said. And she did tell her, as I found out when I got home, by way of Foodland, where I got some more Fudgsicles. We were out.



That was her victory dance, at the top, when I gave her one after dinner.



John, Friday, November 10, 2006