The Little Turtle (2) Does look like a little angel, with her blue eyes and blonde curls, but her enthusiasm for me is what properly gets me every time.
In the morning, the ritual is to take out some of the large slices of tree I stored earlier in the year, and then, axe in hand, cut it down to sizes that can fit in the wood burning stove that also heats ll the radiators in the house.
Without fail, she will ask to get dressed, shoes, coat and sometimes little gloves on, so she can stand at the top of the short stairs above where I chop the wood to watch me. She wants to help put the cut pieces in the basket but she’s a little short and the bits can be heavy anyway, and I want her to stay at the top of the stairs because sometimes a chunk of wood will fly out to the side.
Even so, she will sit out there with me, saying a few funny things or commenting on the work.
“Daddy, you’re bashing it!”
Her favourite one is when an axe strike doesn’t immediately produce a new chunk of wood.
You can hear the glee in her voice: “Daddy, you MISSED!”
She will sometimes be sitting at the table getting ready to eat and just sing to herself: “daddy, daddy, daddy…”
And last night, she was in the bed with us sound asleep and all of a sudden she shouts: “Daddy! And… And…” (she does this when fully awake too) “I felled in the SNOW!”
She had in fact fallen in the snow a few days earlier and of course, being as this is an EVENT in her life she repeats it to everyone who will listen.
I started to say “Ok darling…” but my wife shushed me… I look, and… the little turtle is sound asleep.
Dreaming of talking to daddy even when she’s passed out.
There really is nothing to compare to the love of your children. My wife keeps telling me she doesn’t want any of them to grow up, because she loves how they are at these ages. I understand, but I am probably more excited to see how they develop and what kind of people they become.
When a darker mood takes me I fleetingly think about people who intentionally hurt, rape or do even worse things to children. And at those times, I am more certain than anything, that such people need to be wiped out from the face of the Earth, along with anyone and everyone that would cover for them, hide them, or help them.
There simply are no consequences on Earth that would stop me from reducing such people to slurry if they ever came near one of my children. And I cannot fathom for the life of me, how any father (or mother for that matter) could in any way not feel exactly the same as I do on this.
The more you live in touch with nature, hard as it may be compared to the soft lifestyles we have all been accustomed to, the ore obvious it becomes, that some “people” just like some noxious, poisonous critters (except even those have more of a right to life on Earth) simply need killing. And I really don’t give a shit how politically incorrect this might sound. Certain crimes absolutely need the death penalty, and we need to reinstate it globally ASAP.
All of my children have their “daddy” moments, but my 3YO boy and 1YO daughter are especially attached to me, and that unadulterated and wholehearted love and affection are like sunlight for my heart. The boy just wants to do everything with me, and be held and snuggled by me as much as possible. He likes to avoid his bedtime by very sweetly asking to snuggle, and darn it if it doesn’t work just about every time.
The baby doesn’t say much yet, but “dada” is by far her most used word and she will repeat it over and over when she knows I’m listening. She lights up when sees me come in the door or when she catches my eye from across the room. Even when my wife is breastfeeding her before bed, she’ll pull away from momma just to look at me and say “dada” a couple more times before she falls asleep.
I feel exactly the same as you about swiftly and aggressively issuing justice on those who would harm mine or any children.