A-Dora-ble

“When I get a little bit older…” is the lead-in to many of Olivia’s inquiries nowadays. For instance, she likes to ask this from her car seat: “When I get a little bit older, I’ll be able to drive?” In fact, the phrase has entered our bag of parental tricks – it’s one of the ways we’re able to explain and simplify the world for our daughter. By framing things and actions for her in the “when you get a little bit older” context, we’re hoping to differentiate for her the roles and responsibilities of children and adults.

When Olivia sees me doing things that a grown-up might do when getting ready for work – iron a shirt, put on a tie, wear dress shoes – she just wants to be reassured that she too might be doing these things one day. Her questions are part of my morning routine, and by now, I would have guessed that I’d heard all of them. However, on this particular morning, she threw in a new one that initially went unanswered because I was laughing so hard.

Olivia had been observing me touch up my bangs and sideburns with the hair trimmer on my electric shaver when she pointed to the Braun 5614 and asked me, “Daddy, when I’m a little bit older, I can have a Dora one of those?”