MY FAIR LADY

She stared out her window from the comfortable confinement of her car seat and watched blurry landscapes pass by. Her mother and I were three songs deep in the set list of an off key concert from the front seat when all of a sudden we noticed a few horses walking beside us along the shoulder of the road as we approached a stoplight. Four liver chestnuts carrying single riders upon their backs walked slowly in a single file line along the side of the highway. I’m from a small town so the sight of a horse isn’t a rarity; however, it is for Madison as she’s never seen horses outside of a pasture or the pages of a book.

I ran my hand over the volume knob silencing the music and encouraged Madison to look out her window at the horses. As we came to a stop I rotated in my seat to see her face wearing the joyous glow of curiosity with a slight hint of red from the traffic light in front of us.

Whoa, she said in her sweet toddler tone of voice that makes me melt, hursies.

The light switched to green and we turned away from the horses leaving them in our rear view mirror and I reached to turn the tunes back up smiling to myself when I heard that little voice again from the back seat.

Peeg.

You have to pee?

No. Peeg. Pink peeg.

Pink pig? Where? (I looked around, as did her mother, and we didn't see one.)

No, no, noah, Daddee. Find pink peeg.

It was an assignment delivered from a two year old, one I knew she wouldn’t let me forget until she laid eyes on a pig. A pink one, specifically. It was now my mission to find a pink pig. So I did what any father who adores his daughter would do... I bought her a pig.

That's not the truth. I definitely did not buy her a pig.

Although I did think about it, but I knew Allison would object. Instead I distracted her with a good time by taking her to the fair. The flashing lights and rotating rides were in town! Madison has never been to a fair and since she seems somewhat adventurous, I knew she would enjoy it.

Once inside the fairground we decided to get the rides out of the way before eating anything since Madison has shown evidence of inheriting Allison’s motion sickness (as to how we discovered this – that’s another story for another day). Eating first then moving seems to be a bad idea and so riding all the rides her height permitted became our priority with the promise of a funnel cake as the finale.