What are you going to be when you grow up?

Heather thinks that nobody will ever read this because they don't know this website still exists, given my patchy posting behavior in the past year. We'll show her, right?.... Anybody?.... Hello...?

For the longest time, Pete, when asked the above question, would only answer, "A Daddy." There will never come a time when I don't melt on hearing such an answer. If you tried to compromise and say, for example, "Okay, and what else do you want to do?" he would not budge, answering, "I just want to be a Daddy."

He has since learned that many daddies do something else for a job too, and has opened up his speculation a little bit, but he will not accept any occupation that isn't compatible with daddyness. Last week, he told me, in a state near tears, that he had wanted to be a firefighter, but then he learned at school that firefighters have beds at the fire station.

Me: So why does that make you not want to be a firefighter anymore?
Pete (crying): Because they sleep at the firestation and can't be daddies!

I tried to explain how it works and that many firefighters are daddies too, but he didn't really trust my explanation. I think that the idea of a daddy that doesn't sleep in the home was logically dissonant for him. It didn't make any sense.

Tonight, I was reading a Dora the Explorer book entitled "When I Grow Up" to Nora, and Pete came in uninvited to share what he wants to be when he grows up. First, he sat down and asked, "Can doctors be daddies?" I told him yes, and he said that he wants to be a doctor because he wants to help people feel better.