Daddy Daughter Dates

How sweet is this picture? And how beautiful and grown-up is Madeline looking? Lyle starts doing official Daddy daughter dates with the girls once they turn about 5. He figures his dates should at least be old enough to be sent into the Ladies Room without assistance. Lyle's first with Madeline was back in 2001 when they went to a local performing arts center to see a juggling/acrobat show. Near the end of the show, Madeline was chosen as a volunteer from the audience and was used as an adorable little prop in all sorts of balancing tricks. At one point the performer had her standing on his shoulders, with Madeline our stage diva waving to the crowd. He jokingly told her to stand on his head. Madeline, ever eager to please, had already put one foot on his head when he told her he was kidding. When Madeline put her foot back down her dress fell over the man's face. He staggered blindly around the stage until Madeline realized what had happened and quickly lifted up her dress to reveal the man's surprised face underneath. Lyle said several people asked him afterwards if it was really part of the show because it couldn't have been scripted any better.

Seven years later, they're still enjoying the occasional Daddy daughter date. This past weekend they went back to the same performing arts center to see a Celtic fiddling/ Irish dancing show which they both loved. Abby has a date scheduled for February to see a show called "Moscow Cats". Yes, it's a performing cat show. And not the lion and tiger types of cats. We're talking your run-of-the-mill litterbox users. Abby is ecstatic. Lyle is long-suffering.



Lyle grew up with 6 sisters. Obviously at any Daddy daughter events Lyle's dad was outnumbered. One year the family decided to enlist the services of a male relative, Uncle Harvey.

A few months ago when Abby heard that Madeline was going to be attending a Daddy Daughter dance with Dad, she was determined to go as well. Madeline rolled her eyes and said, "Oh, can't we just call Uncle Harvey?"




Lyle and Abby had their first official date 2 years ago. I was helping Abby get ready upstairs and she wanted Lyle to come knock on her bedroom door. She was all set to go and her date was just not coming. Finally she got on the intercom system and said, "Have I been stood up?!"

When they got home from their date Abby was not happy to have it end and asked her dad if they could also have a sleepover. Lyle hopes that as a teenager she'll be able to end her dates at the door.



Maya isn't quite old enough yet to go on official dates, but here are some Maya and Dad photos that I just love. When we met Maya in China, her experiences had been pretty limited. Orphanage babies don't get much physical contact period, let alone Daddy-style rough housing. In China, when he tried to toss her in the air as he'd always done with our other one year olds, she was terrified. It took several months with very slow progress, but I love these pictures from two years ago when he accomplished his goal. Maya loves her Baba.