Page 14 of Love In The Spotlight

“Yes, please,” Penelope said. “For Dolly too?”

He shut one eye. “Dolly can have some too.”

He picked Penelope up and carried her to the kitchen under his arm like a football and pretended to run past defenders. His daughter thought this was a hilarious game they had.

When he got to the end of the house and stepped foot into the kitchen, Penelope shouted, “Touchdown!”

He laughed, tossed her in the air, planted a kiss on her nose and then set her on her feet.

She made two fists and shook her butt in the form of a touchdown dance that just warmed his heart more than anything else could.

“We make a great team,” he said.

“Crackers, please,” she said, moving to her seat by the table.

When she started to climb up herself, he stopped her. She was too independent for her own good at times.

He got her in the seat on the bench and buckled her into it, then filled two tiny bowls with animal crackers. One for her and one for Dolly.

Once his daughter was eating her snack, he got an apple and a jar of peanut butter, cut his slices and spread the peanut butter on them and joined his daughter at the little breakfast nook they shared their meals at.

The minute Penelope saw his snack, she was reaching for it. She always did. Which was why he made good snacking decisions in front of her.

He took the knife he’d brought with him and cut a few small pieces off and set them in front of her.

“What was your favorite part of today?” he asked.

He always wanted her to think of the positive in the day rather than focus on the bad.

Easier said than done, but he figured if she got into the habit of thinking about what she liked in life rather than what didn’t go her way, it’d be a good habit to learn early on.

“Tea party,” she said.

“Would my lady like some tea with her crackers?” he asked, standing up. “Or milk?”

“Milk,” Penelope said.

The guys on the field would be busting a nut laughing at him if they saw him sitting on the floor with his legs stretched out under a tiny wooden table while his daughter and some dolls were in chairs and dresses and sipping imaginary tea out of plastic cups and eating fake cookies.

He could barely hold the cup in his hands, but he did it for Penelope.

Then once the tea party was done, they went in the yard and ran around kicking the ball. He wanted his daughter to learn everything in life and make decisions that way.

Sitting or running, it was her choice. She picked the pink ball to kick over the blue one, but she also chose to kick the ball rather than being pushed on the swing set.

He filled her cup with the milk, put the top on, and brought it over to sit next to her.

She grabbed the two handles on the sides and got it in her mouth perfectly.

Now she could. Before, it was anyone’s guess where the food and milk landed.

When snack time was done, Penelope’s feet hit the floor and she was off running for the stairs to her room. He felt comfortable enough having his room downstairs now, but for a solid year his daughter slept in the little sitting room off of his when it was just the two of them.

He watched his daughter climb the stairs holding the railing, one at a time. Slowly he’d stood behind her in case she slipped and started to fall backwards.

Penelope was off into her room to get her pajamas that he kept in the bottom drawer for her to pick out while he ran the water in the tub in the bathroom attached to her room.

Janelle stayed in the room on the other side of the Jack and Jill bathroom.

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