I wasn't supposed to have my little heathen last night but the ex-wife wanted to go see her boyfriend. So of course I happily went and picked her up, any excuse to have her is a good one to me. I've been told before that I'm being taken advantage of. That the ex-wife just dumps her on me (now more than half the time) whenever she gets tired of her or wants to 'do something' that she can't because of the Bean. That's fine with me. If that's being taken advantage of then call me Matt (you know, the guy with no arms and no legs who's on your front porch) and walk all over me. Any night I get to have that blue eyed girl around is a better one for it.

She'd had half a peanut butter & jelly sandwich already but we had more dinner anyways, she was still hungry. The outfit I'd sent her to school in was gone and I found out the next morning that her mother apparently felt she wanted to have it, since it was nice, for the next time Alaura went to school. Well, after listening to some jazz in the car - we made it home.

One of the Bean's homework assignments is to be read to every night, for at least twenty minutes. I think my girlfriend enjoys doing this (that and she bought a story book for her, big hint) so I usually let her do it. Last night though it was my turn and I decided that it was time to introduce the little one to something more fulfilling then listening to the same old fairy tale again.

I read to her from a book titled Immortal Poems of the English Language that I've owned for quite some time. Poems by Blake, Shakespeare, Frost, Byron, and lastly a few by Herrick.

I have to admit she disliked Shakespeare and started whispering to herself - so we moved on with some haste. Her favorite was Blake's I Asked a Theif and we read that one a few times. I think she liked the rhythm or perhaps I added a bit more inflection as it happens to be one of my favorites also. After reading To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time. by Herrick, she stopped me and said, "Daddy, tarry is a nice word." We read it a few more times, having her read along and say the foreign words. Words not often passed through the lips of a five year old, but immortal in truth and wisdom, were inspiring to hear in that gentle lilting voice.

I helped her memorize the last stanza since she has a penchant for me getting married again and it contained her favorite new word, "tarry". She tried to repeat it back to my girlfriend, but in the end, I think it sounded less like Herrick and more like Seuss. C'est la vie, it was superbly cute.

I think she was just being prescient when it came to her new favorite word. As most of us know, girls usually tarry quite often throughout life. To this one I believe it's going to be an artform.