Mad Dog and the Invisible Kitties

Several years ago after Madeline was born I was holding her and trying to make her laugh. Like with all of the other children I began to make up silly names for her like "Madness" and "Mad Dog," the latter of which has stuck for some reason. She even answers to it.

A few nights ago Jenny was gone to a Relief Society meeting and I was home with the kids. The older three made themselves busy with whatever interested them at the time but without Mommy here, the youngest, Maddie (aka Mad Dog) sought me out and decided pass the time with me until Jenny returned.

Now, it was clear to me from almost the beginning that the only reason she was with me was because her Mommy wasn't there. I was laying on my bed reading and Maddie barged into the room and asked me "Where is Mommy?" I told her and then she asked "When will Mommy be home?" I told her and then she sighed and climbed up onto the bed and laid down next to me.

I kind of gave her a squeeze and continued to read. Then she asked, "Daddy...do you want some kitties?" I said, "What?" She then said that she had a "bunch of little kitties that are SOOO cute." She was holding her arms in a way that she might if she were holding many little kitties. I told her that I would love some kitties and she then proceeded to hand me invisible kitty after invisible kitty. I pretended to take them from her and put them beside me on the bed and she asked "Aren't they SOOO cute Daddy?" I agreed that they were and thanked her and gave her another squeeze before going back to my reading. After several seconds she then said, "Daddy, you are cute too." Awwww Shucks...

For the rest of the evening, Maddie walked through the house giving away invisible kitties to whomever would take them. I began to picture in mind what our house might look like if her kitties were real and was very grateful they weren't any more than a 3 year-old's way of sharing affection with her family.

~Wade