Dads are funny people

Last night,somewhere in the middle of my sleep,Rich put Lillianna in bed beside me. I think he was still up watching t.v. at the time so I asked him what was going on. He told me that Lillianna had a tummy ache. I asked my daughter why she didn't feel well and she immediately pointed the finger at her father.

"Daddy let me eat junk today," she said accusingly.
I sighed. I only had a few hours of sleep before I had to get up and go back to work for 8 more hours. The last thing I wanted to deal with was a puking child in my bed.
"Don't you remember my popsicle story?" I asked. She said she didn't. I was stunned and amazed. The popsicle story is one of my favorite Daddy stories. In the olden days,when most dads were truly oblivious,I had a little incident with popsicles.

I was 5 or 6 years old when this story took place.Mom went out to play Mah Johng with her friends on this particular summer evening and Daddy was in charge of his one and only child.I went out to play with my friends but I got hot from running around. I ran up the 3 flights of stairs and asked Daddy if I could have a popsicle. He said,"Sure." Keep in mind,this was 1968 when popsicles were double the size they are now. Remember the ones with 2 sticks in them? So I ate my popsicle and ran upstairs again. I asked Daddy if I could have another popsicle. "Ya,sure," he said without a moment's hesitation.I grabbed a different flavor and went out to play again.

A few minutes later I asked for a third popsicle. Daddy said,"Ok." I knew there was no way that I was supposed to have three of them but he was in charge so I didn't question him. What kid would have?
A short time later, I got hungry. "Daddy, can you make me a can of spaghetti?" I asked hopefully. He opened the can of Franco-American and heated it up for me. I ate a huge plate of it and went outside again.

Not too long after that, I went up and asked for another popsicle. Guess what my Dad's answer was? Yup. You guessed it. I grabbed a popsicle as fast as I could and ran out the door before he changed his mind. Soon it became dark and we all went inside for the night. Suddenly, I had a tummy ache. Dad's advice? "Go to bed."

As soon as I tried to lay down,I felt worse so I sat up and played with my Colorforms until Mom came home.She stood in the doorway of my bedroom with her hands on her hips and asked "What are you doing up?"
Before I could answer......I threw up.....everywhere. It went across the room and landed at her feet. Mom examined the mess at her feet then she looked at my Dad who had now joined her in the doorway.
"Well, I see you fed her spaghetti! What else did you give her?" she demanded.

Dad didn't remember feeding me anything else,he explained.That's when Mom glared at me. "Uhm,I had a couple of popsicles," I said innocently.
"How many is a couple?" she asked. I paused so that I could count them up.
"I had four popsicles and a can of spaghetti," I admitted.

Mom just sighed and glared at Daddy. He shrugged and walked into the living room. I changed into fresh jammies while Mom cleaned up my mess then I went back to bed. From that point on, Mom always reminded Daddy not to let me eat as many popsicles as I wanted. She didn't have to waste her breath. I never tried that again.

So Happy Father's Day to all the dads who give their kids junk food til they puke and to all the dads who know better.


(To my dear husband,Rich,You're darn lucky Lillianna didn't throw up on me last night while you were safe and snug in her bed!! Since you're such a great husband and father, I won't hold that against you!!
I love you!!)