Father Daughter Dance

For all the frustrations, challenges and worries that come with parenthood, the good times far outweigh the negatives.  Last night Lily and I attended our first father daughter dance and it was a night I will always remember.  As excited as I was for the evening, I can't even begin to explain how good it made me feel to know how excited Lily was as well.  She and mommy went dress shopping and Lily asked if she could get high heels to wear, and the whole day was quite the production.  Lily told me on the way to the dance that she was a little nervous to dance in front of everybody, but once she got the rhythm you could not stop her.  I took the opportunity to express to her that we would go on dates like this periodically so that by the time she is old enough to go on a date she will know how to act, but more importantly she will know how boys are supposed to treat her on a date.  She was actually quite receptive to the conversation and is already looking forward to our next date. 

My suspicion was that when we go to the dance, she would find her friends and go off and dance with them and I even told her it would be alright for her to do that.  But Lily made me feel very special when she went to talk to her friends and then a song came on that she really likes and she came running over to me, grabbed my hand, and said "come on Daddy, I love this song."  Words really cannot explain it.

After the dance we went for a nice dinner and ice cream.  As I was explaining how boys are supposed to open the door and do other gentlemanly things, Lily reminded me of the movie Footloose (the original Kevin Bacon) that we watched when the boy opened the door on the date and his car door wouldn't shut so he had to kick it shut.  She said, "Daddy, boys shouldn't kick the door shut, right?"  So of course as we are leaving the restaurant, I opened the door for Lily and once she was in I kicked it shut for her.  She got the biggest belly laugh and kept telling me how funny I am.  I definitely want this documented, because in a few years, she will just be rolling her eyes at me, but for now I am still her fun Daddy, and I will enjoy it while I can.

It was a wonderful evening.

Have I mentioned how I tried to get Lawson out of his high chair at dinner?  I went to grab his tray to take it off and apparently he was not done eating, because the boy grabbed on to the tray with a death grip and yelled, "I wan mo, I wan mo!"

Jeff, Kasey, Lily, Abby, Chloe, and Lawson