“Lookit This Enormous Thing I Brought To You”

Ever since we set up the Morning Rules, Kina has taken to pretty elaborate pre-dawn creative exercise. We have, of course, discussed the Play-Doh noodles, but she’s better known lately for her avid work as a Lego magnate. Though she’s adhered to our agreement not to open the door or skritchety-scratch at it, the living room is directly outside our bedroom, and so Laurea and I often have to pile pillows on our heads to block out the sound of intense Lego construction (the pouring out of blocks on the floor, the sifting through those blocks to find the one pink block, the placement of the block, and so forth). Once she’s legally permitted to wake us, we often emerge to a multicolor urban superblock—an airy tower sitting atop a massive, windowless plinth. The young architect presents her commission to us, uncompromising in its disdain for the surrounding figurines. We blink in amazement. She asks to watch She-Ra.

“What Can We Use For This Big Giant Serious Booboo?”

It really was a big one! A minor contusion with various little scrapes, it didn’t appear to bother Kina, except that she really didn’t want me to wash it in the bathtub. To keep her occupied while I washed the rest of her body, we discussed the most effective method of bandaging a booboo of epic proportions. We figured, together, that four Hello Kitty Band-Aids would do the trick, so long as we were careful to put them all side by side—and to not use lotion. After she was all dried off, and we took a closer look at the damage, we agreed that three (lotion-free) Hello Kitty Band-Aids would be sufficient. All of which is to say, if you have a Big Giant Serious Booboo, you will need three Hello Kitty Band-Aids and absolutely no lotion. That should do.

“I’m She-Ra! I Fight For All People!!”

The real She-Ra does not make such broad claims, focusing instead on protecting Etherea, the generally helpless, and her closest friends. Kina’s willingness to extend She-Ra’s mandate in this way seems to have come from nowhere; no other hero or parent in this household routinely yells “I fight for all people!!” We are proud of her, and eagerly await her cabinet nomination.

dad