One of the great things that our life has afforded us is a lot of one on one time with our young kids. Effectively, we have been blessed to be part time doctors and part time “stay-at-home” parents. The best of both worlds, if you will.

Actually, on many a day, going in to the office and fixing teeth is a lot less challenging than juggling two young kids. Especially now that they have learned to disagree with each other.

So there we were, me and my four year old sweet baby girl with the better part of a day to kill. Parker was hard at work in class and Dad had a long list of things to get done. Bills to pay, animals to feed, laundry, trash, dishes, mowing, fences to be mended, office paperwork…the list was overgrown.

Mom had skipped town to go shopping.

No worries, though, because girls are great at entertaining themselves. After hauling trash, we popped in and grabbed a new princess coloring book and a few sheets of stickers. The way I figured it, the morning was set. We even bought a pint of ice cream for breakfast to start things off right.

Sixteen minutes later, I was replying to email number four out of the twentyseven in my inbox.

“Dad, look at the picture I colored for you.”

It was actually pretty amazing work for a four year old. Then again, I may be a bit biased.

“That is beautiful honey,” I said, “can you do me another one?”

“No, Dad.”

“But why,” I asked.

“Because we are going on a date.”

At that moment in time, all the emails, bills, tasks, and anything else I had planned magically disappeared. We had a date.

We played at the library and checked out as many books as she wanted. We read them all…twice. We watched a Christmas tv show and a Princess movie, snuggled on the couch. We jumped on the trampoline, swung on the swing, rolled around in the dust with the dogs, and fed the horses and goats enough treats to founder them all. At her request, we went out for barbecue and then some more ice cream. Next thing we knew, kindergarten was about to let out, so we went to pick up Brother. B

efore we got out of the truck, I tried to explain to a four year old how to gloss over the fun we’d had while her brother was in school. Halfway in, she stopped me and said, “Dad, I’m about four now. I know not to tell Parker we had the bestest date ever.”

As we walked up to get Parker from school, she was smiling from ear to ear. I figured I was sunk. He was going to be jealous.

Parker ran out and Peyton grabbed his arm before he got to me. She gave him a big hug and said, “Parker, Dad said we’re going to get you some ice cream.”

I won’t swear to it, but I’m pretty sure she winked at me when she said this. Damn, if she doesn’t take after her Mom…already smarter than me.

Until next week, keep smiling.

-Please send comments to Drs. Parrish at www.ParrishDental.com