Daddy's Girl

Day 23 of 31 at TWT!

"Why are there tears in your eyes? / Because I just love spending time with you, Daddy!" I grin at the green message as I get ready to eat lunch. For a second, I think Rainbow said that after preschool, but then I look at the time sent and realize it must have been Sweetie at lunch.

"M said that?" I type back.

"Uh huh! During lunch! I looked over and there were tears in her eyes!"

I can just imagine her sitting in his car outside her school, purple unicorn lunchbox in her lap, gazing adoringly at him. She has always been such a Daddy's Girl! I giggle. And she's soooo sensitive!

When Omicron was raging after winter break and I panicked that she'd catch Covid from the lunchroom, I realized that we could actually make it work to pull her out of school for lunch like I'd heard of some other families doing. Our nanny agreed to let Sweetie eat in her car with the windows cracked (and piles of blankets on her and Rainbow) on days Husband works on campus, and Husband would take his lunch during Sweetie's lunch on his work-from-home days. I was afraid she'd be sad about missing lunch with her friends, but she has perfectly been happy all these months to listen to Ramona audiobooks in the nanny's car with her little sister some days, and obviously ecstatic to eat with Daddy on the other days. 

When I get home after school, he can't wait to expand on the story. "Yeah, we were just sitting there, talking about nothing, like cars or something, and I looked over and saw big tears welling up in her eyes!" His face glows with love. "And when I asked why, she just said, 'I just LOVE you, Daddy! I just LOVE spending time with you!'"

A few minutes later, when she gets off the bus, I say, "I heard you had happy tears at lunch with Daddy today?"

"Yes! I just LOVE him!" she repeats, and runs to wrap her arms around his neck in the den. 

These 2 years have been so hard in so many ways, but when she looks back at first grade, I hope she remembers those special parking lot lunches with Daddy.