The Girl, her big pink teddy bear, and I are sitting on the couch in the family room.
TG: Let's play hide and seek!
DD: Okay.
TG: I know a good hiding place!
DD: Okay. I'll count! (I hide my eyes)
TG: (giggles)
DD: one...two...three...
TG: (giggles)
DD: nine..ten! (Eyes open) Ready or not, here I come!
Next to me, I spy a recumbent girl with a big pink teddy bear covering her face. Her legs are crossed and knees up, so one foot is almost in my face.
DD: (laugh out loud)
DD: I WONDER WHERE TG COULD BE?
TG: (giggles)
DD: Bear, do you know where TG is?
TG (voicing the bear): No.
DD: Hmm...Is she on the chair? Noooo....
TG: (giggles harder)
DD: I wonder whose feet these are? (Start tickling her foot.) They seem to move a lot when I tickle them...
TG: (laughing)
DD: Bear, do you know whose feet these are?
TG (triumphantly): Here I am!
DD: There you are!
TG: You silly! I was right here!
In a few years, I won't know anything, and she'll greet me with a roll of the eyes and a contemptuous “Da-a-ad.” But for now, I'm a silly Daddy who can't see a little girl behind a big pink teddy bear.
Best after-work decompression ever.
