Today is Mr. Waffle’s birthday. I got him a present from the Princess (yes, this is the kind of person I have become..). A book entitled, as above, “A dad is fab”. It’s got cartoon drawings of a father and daughter team. Mr Waffle sat on the bed and read it to her, it went like this:
Un papa, c’est sportif (picture of Da and little boy playing with a ball, little girl watching)
Un papa, c’est courageux (Da wading into river to get ball, little boy and girl watching)
Un papa, ça sait tout faire (Da fixing bike with little boy, little girl watching them sadly over the wall)
Un papa, ça te donne de bonnes choses à manger (Da giving little boy chips – this is a Belgian publication – little girl watching them sadly while eating apple)
Un papa, ça te porte quand tu es fatigué (Da carrying asleep little boy, little girl watching them sadly)
Un papa, ça fait des petits frères et des petits soeurs (family of four being regarded sadly by little girl – at this stage some serious eyebrow raising from Mr. Waffle)
And then it finishes off with the little girl saying “And my Daddy, he left, and that’s a pity, because I am a wonderful little girl”
Outstanding, I have acquired for him a sad little book about a dead or possibly divorced father as a birthday present from his daughter. What an excellent start to his birthday.
on 19 March 2004 at 20:34
Hmm. Not sure I would call it genius as such, but ta for the sweetie.
on 20 March 2004 at 09:06
It’s true the ending of the book was a bit surprising, and we might skip that bit when we read it to the Princess. But it was a lovely thought to get a book which said nice things about fathers, and I’m really touched.