Outside Influences

Penelope has had several influential guest speakers at her school recently. A couple weeks ago, I am told that the "Fire Apartment" came. I'm not sure what they talked about, but she deputized her stuffed animal with a sticker badge that they gave her, and Puppy's voice was very official-sounding for a while.

Then earlier this week, the "Police Station" came. After their visit, she came home with a surprising and somewhat confusing array of swag, including:
A small insulated lunchbox
A badge/name tag lanyard
A small foam semi truck and traffic cone
Two LED flashlights (one with an emergency whistle)
A carabiner key ring
A pen with messages that change every time you click - all about how to avoid getting tickets
A notebook with instructions on the front for how to avoid a DWI
And a can coozy. She really, really took to the coozy.

Again, I am unsure what the details of the discussion were, but I know she got to sit on a motorcycle. That, and the following picture should make Papa Jace proud.

Finally, I am told that yesterday, a "Gentle, High Dentist" came to visit. The discussion is again a mystery, but she started doing some strange things last night, like brushing her tongue. I can't wait to see who shows up next week.

A Note for Ben

Dear Ben,

On your sister's birthday last year, I wrote her a lovely letter here on the blog. I intended to do the same for your birthday as well. I wrote down a whole bunch of stuff about how proud I am of you. Then I read it and realized, as a note to you it was kind of cool. As a note that a bunch of other people were going to read, it just sounded like I was bragging about my kid. Perhaps that's what my public gushing here always sounds like, but it isn't what I intend this place to be. So I put it aside and said "I'll think about it and reword it tomorrow."

But then today (a.k.a. yesterday's tomorrow), I left the house for a run. I was gone about an hour. Less than a minute after I got home your sister said, "Daddy! I didn't know you were back!"

Then you looked at me and said, "I didn't know you were gone!"

Allright then... no note for you! Just kidding. I can't fault you for that - after all, you definitely get it from me, along with a whole host of other things that I should probably apologize for (did you know one of your friends thinks I'm a werewolf? We'll talk about all the odd hair patterns you're probably going to be stuck with, but not today).

So back to your note. There's not really a way for me to say all the stuff that's in there without sounding boastful. I've looked at it for about an hour now. So here's the deal. For the people out here, I'm just going to sum it up, and for you, in person, I'll spell it out (actually, I already did a couple days ago). You're smart, you're funny, you're talented, and you have a kind heart. You are constantly doing something new to amaze me, and I am really, really proud of you.

Happy ((just barely the day after the) day after your) 7th Birthday!

Love,
-Daddy

P.S. Don't let it go to your head. You're still kind of a goofball.