Our daughter has it all: beauty, brains, personality, charm, you name it. So I never doubted that she would some day be Little Miss Popular.
What I didn’t expect is for her — at age 2 — to already have a busier social life than I do.
In the interest of not thieving my material, I have to give my wife credit for making the initial observation about Penny’s social calendar. But upon pondering the matter, it quickly became evident just how right she was.
In the past couple weeks, Penny’s been to the movies with her cousin, out for ice cream with her aunt, to a birthday party with her aunt and uncle, and whisked away for an afternoon visiting admirers with another uncle. And that doesn’t include trips we took the kids on to the circus, pumpkin picking and out to eat.
Penny will talk for hours about Matthew, Megan and Baby Tara, whom she cheerfully identifies as her friends and often discusses going on outings with (she volunteers me for driving duties, asking me to go pick them up at all hours). She’s seen them all within the past month or so, some of them multiple times; I have friends (who actually still live here) who I haven’t seen in nearly a year.
To my dismay, she’s also referred to one of her friends as her boyfriend.
Gulp. I thought I had another 10-12 years (or, if I got my way, 30-35 years) before I’d hear that word.
In all seriousness, it’s great that Penny is so sociable. Making friends — something I struggled with in school — will only serve to help her throughout her life.
But so help me, if I see one of those young boys holding her hand ...
•••
Halloween was a smash, as expected, with Penny’s princess costume and Rigby’s frog prince garb drawing rave reviews.
After visiting family throughout the morning and early afternoon (and Penny filling her bucket thanks to the never-ending candy bowl at Ma’s house), they enjoyed a bit of trick-or-treating, the first time for both of them. Penny was excited to go, and that was before she even realized that EVERY house gave her free candy.
Rigby made it about one-fourth of the way around the block before pooping out, and Penny did the same near the halfway point. But even exhausted in the stroller, they were the two best-looking kids in the neighborhood.
•••
Speaking of good-looking children, Rigby recently got the christening suit he’s going to wear when he’s baptized later this month. As if he could possibly look any more handsome, Rigby’s going to wear a white suit with tails and matching pants, almost like a Mini Me-sized tuxedo.
Ever the ignorant father when it comes to clothing-related matters, I thought that he would just wear a normal suit for the occasion. But I have to say that any cost concerns I had were allayed when I saw the outfit.
Of all the things I could pass down to our children, I am glad that my looks weren’t one of them.
•••
One last note. You know when the clocks turned back last week, and the TV newsmen were quick to point out that you got another hour of sleep? They never had kids. The clock may say 5:30 a.m., but in Rigby’s mind it’s 6:30 and that’s the end of it.
Contact Paul Laneat 693-1000, ext. 116,or paul.lane@tonawanda-news.com.
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