Robo-Daddy

SI's robot seems to have staying power

As you might recall, yesterday I lamented briefly about the speed with which SI adored and then abandoned her pet robot.  Well, as she always manages to do, SI has made me eat my words.

Daddy provides all sorts of entertainment

You see, last night we had a small family celebration.  For those of you unaware, M hates his job.  He's very very good at it, and after a year of unemployment he certainly wasn't about to give up a steady job with regular overtime that allowed him to finish his Master's degree.  So, he's been very quiet for the most part about his daily miseries.

At any rate, in gearing up for his last semester of grad school, he updated his resume and put it back out there.  And he's gotten lots of calls, mostly leading nowhere, and more each week.  It's exciting for both of us, and with the semester starting up again on Monday we had a bit of an "almost there" party.  Which is to say, M and I sat down in front of a whole pizza with our children and together had a very festive meal.

Tired daddies need kisses

M pretended, at the girls' request, to be "Daddy Robot" for most of the meal, "initiating pizza retrieval," cramming unholy amounts of pizza into his gullet at once, and generally making the children as happy as little girls presented with pizza and their ridiculous father can be.  Particularly children who are obsessed with robots.  And M had a blast.  When M "does the robot," it is utterly incapable of entertaining an adult for more than a few condescending seconds.  But put him in front of a crowd of small children?  He was in performer's paradise.

A bath, a decent night's sleep, and a dawn later, I awoke to the regular sounds of DD sneaking into SI's bed in order to achieve some feat of mischief.  And what I heard was this, "No Debbah!  MY robot!  MY robot!"

Nurse Daddy helps Dr. DD with a sick doll

For Channukah, I had actually gotten the girls a sum total of three robots- SI's "Blue Robot" and one really neat robot finger puppet each.  I gave DD a robot that looks like Plex from Yo Gabba Gabba, and I gave SI a blue robot.  One that is *actually* blue.

At any rate, when I finally got in there and made sure that everybody had their own robots, SI proceeded to explain to me that "Blue Robot" was now "Daddy Robot."  And that her blue robot finger puppet was now "Baby Robot."

And Daddy Robot spent nearly all of the day gently cradling Baby Robot, reading it books, cooing it it quietly, and occasionally singing it the Alphabet Song.

Baby Robot and Daddy Robot

DD ran around and jumped up and down and did her usual gigantic ball of energy routine.  SI just pulled me to the floor, lay down in my lap, and showed me how much Daddy Robot loves Baby Robot, and how Daddy Robot gives Baby Robot kisses, and picks up Baby Robot, and oh so gently pats Baby Robot on the back.

It's not very often that I find myself wishing that M was home, still unemployed but always here to play with his children.

And it's not very often that their imagination play doesn't involve a Mommy figure.  In fact, I'd say it's a first.  It's always, "Daddy duck, Mommy duck, baby duck!"  Or, "Daddy bear, Mommy bear!"  "Daddy" and "Mommy" are adjectives that apply to differently sized or shaped blocks.  They definitely see us as a team.

This is what Daddy Robots do.  <3

But Daddy Robot is something special.  And I don't know that she's ever looked at another toy with so much love and tenderness on her face.

My husband, the most wonderful man I have ever known, the most amazing father I could ever have imagined for my children...  Even when he's not here, he's here.  Because my kids know what daddies do.

Daddies give hugs and kisses and read books and play.

When they talk about Daddy during the day, they say things like, "Daddy at work.  Poor Daddy."  And when he comes home, he gets dragged into whatever game is happening- or forced to lay down on the floor in order to become their own personal jungle gym.

My daughters know what daddies are.  Daddies are the best robots ever.