30 Day Picture Shenanigans - Day 17

30 Day Picture Shenanigans - Day 17: Things My Daughter Does Better Than I

Most parents experience moments where they are caught in awe of their children.  This has been happening to me a lot recently.  Day (or post) 17 of the 30 Day Picture Shenanigans is about things that my daughter does better than I.

My daughter is better at savoring the summer.  I think all kids are.  Remember when summer used to seem like it was a year long?  Today was really fricking hot and this evening it was still in the high 80s and pretty windy.  She sat outside blowing bubbles despite the heat, basking in the sun

My daughter is better at enjoying the small things.

My daughter is also better at blowing bubbles.

My daughter is better at getting along with other people's children than I am.  While we're at it, my daughter is better at getting along with other adults than I am.  Also, she is better at getting out of awkward and/or boring conversations.  Apparently when you are 7, not answering direct questions while staring blankly at a person before walking away is still relatively acceptable.  My daughter is also better with animals.  I have always thought of myself as an animal lover.  It turns out that I don't actually love being around or near animals, I just don't want them to be abused or neglected.  For example, I like Gomer (the butter-loving cat).  I like his cat-weirdness and I found his morbid obesity to be adorable.  Now that he is expensive, underweight, shaggy, half-blind, and really fucking smelly (seriously, his breath is probably what is killing my house plants) I find that I don't actually want to spend any time around him.  My daughter will sleep with that stinky animal every night.  If he is on our bed, as soon as he starts making that annoying noise with his tongue while he's cleaning himself I use my feet to launch him into the hallway.  (What?  I like my sleep.)  Don't even get me started on my mom's Boston.

A couple of weeks ago the child asked if we had any seeds.  She has a flower box that Mr. Sty built her a few years ago that is filled with dirt and random weeds.  I dug around in a cabinet in the garage and found a packet of lettuce seeds and a packet of cucumber seeds that were at least two years old.  She asked for some brief planting instructions, then happily skipped off with the seeds and her little shovel.  Yesterday she ran in the house excitedly insisting that I go with her into the back yard to look at something.

My daughter is better at gardening.

She planted seeds that were years old and every one has not only sprouted, but has gone untouched by the backyard vermin.  Apparently wicked awesome gardening skills skip a generation.

Bastard cucumber seedling.  Had I planted this, it would be dead already.

I can only assume that my daughter is better at frosting a cake than I am.  (I think a quadriplegic would be a better cake decorator than me.)  She is also a better businesswoman than I am.  (She just asked if I would give her real money for some of her art.  I said sure, thinking a couple of quarters would suffice.  She said, "Okay, my art isn't that much.  Like, 2 or 3, maybe 5 dollars.")

My daughter is better at doing my job.

I'm sure that she will grow up to do all kinds of things better than I did.  She'll probably be a better parent.  (Although, when she was 3 she went into great detail about why she hates babies, so maybe not.)  She'll probably be a better cook, have her dream job, travel the world, drink better beer...  But I guess the goal of all parents is that your children be better people than you.  (So, really, if she does grow up to be an awesome person, that means that I kick ass too.  Ha!)