Interview with an almost-3-year-old: A Father's Day gift

For Mother’s Day, Khan gave me one of the sweetest, nicest things I’ve ever gotten. He wrote a letter to Lily telling her all the reasons he loves me. Ahh.

So, in an effort to outdo him for Father’s Day, I thought I’d try to get Lily to tell me about her Daddy, and I’d write her words out for her. Later, I decided to take her words and put them with some photos and make them into a book. (The words and pictures of this post are the contents thereof. Some of the photos are blog repeats, but meh, I'm okay with that.)

I figured getting the words be easy enough; the girl is pretty chatty these days. One day when she was in a chatty mood, I decided to casually start asking some questions. After ignoring me for awhile, I kept asking, and then she stops her cupcake making in her kitchen and says to me, “Mommy, how ‘bout that’s enough talking. I want to play.”

Well then. This was going to be harder than I thought. I tried again a few more times with very little success, I decided to go with bribery. It’s a tool I use more than I should.

So with a notepad, a pen, and a cup full of Reese’s Pieces (hey, they worked with E.T.), Lily and I sat down for our interview.

 
Me: “What does your Daddy look like?”
Lily: “Him have black hair like me.”
  
Me: "Does Daddy pretend to be anything silly when you play?"

Lily: "Yup. A monkey."
Me: "Really? What about Swiper (sneaky fox from Dora)?"
Lily: "Yeah."
Me: "What does Daddy do when he's Swiper?"

Lily: Shakes her finger at me "Swiper, no swiping! Oh man."
 
Me: "Can you tell me something funny about your Daddy?"
Lily: Stares blankly. Looks around for something more fun to do.
Me: "What does your Daddy do that's funny and makes you laugh?"
Lily: Sees candy. "Um...When we go outside we throw flowers and Daddy catch it."
(This is where I would love to give a story that explains this response, but I got nothin')
 
 
Me: "What's your favorite thing to do with Daddy?"
Lily: "When we go inside and Daddy not funny inside."
Me: Stares blankly.



Me: "What games do you play with Daddy?"
Lily: "Cupcakes!"
 
Me: "What stories do you read with Daddy at bedtime?"
Lily: "Hap in the Cat, Beauty and Beast, Curious George."
Me: "What about Grover? The one with the monster?"
Lily: Big smile and giggles, "That one 'cary!"
 
 
Me: "What books does Daddy like?"
Lily: "Him like Gossie and Gertie books. Bes' friends."
 
Me: "What places does Daddy like to go?"
Lily: "The park!"
Me: "Where else?"
Lily: "The store! Where we go yesterday with the blueberries. Daddy like go there."
 
Me: "Is there anything Daddy doesn't like?"
Lily: Incoherent gibberish and blank stares.
Me: "What makes Daddy unhappy or mad?"
Lily: "I clean up the TV and him said no yesterday."
 
 
Me: "Does Daddy do anything naughty and we have to tell him 'no'?"
Lily: "Him put him feet on the table."

 
Me: "What does Daddy like to eat?"
Lily: "Chicken noodles!"
(???huh??? okay then)
 
Me: "How much do you love your Daddy?"
Lily: "Big much!"
  
Then I asked Lily to draw a picture of her daddy. Now with paper and pen (chalk) in her hand, she decided it was her turn to ask ME the questions.

Lily: "Him have a head?" Me: "Yes."
Lily: "A big head?" Me: "Yes."
Lily: "Him have feet?" Me: "Yes."
Lily: "Legs? Eyes? Nose and mouf (mouth)?" Me: "Yes, yes, yes."
Lily: "Does him have teef (teeth)?" Me: "Yes."
Lily: "In him mouf?" Me: "I sure hope so."
Lily: "Him have Ears? Shoulders? Pants? Arms and hands?"


Me: Hoping she doesn't decide to scribble all over it, "That looks good Lily. I like it."
Lily: Eyes her drawing critically. "We're missing somfin (something). Him need a chair to sit on."

And with the random scribble to the side of the head, the chair is in place and the drawing is complete. I give her a pen to sign it as she likes to do, and she wrote her name in the corner. It's kind of upside down and backwards, but it's pretty darn close, in my heavily biased, mommy-proud opinion.
 
Lastly, overheard a night or two later on a Skype conversation with Nana:
Nana: “Who’s Ariel’s prince?”
Lily: “Eric [is] Ariel’s prince.”
Nana: “And who’s your prince, Lily?”
Lily: “Daddy my prince.”

Indeed, Lily. Indeed.