And the First Lotto number is...

My daughter insists that I tuck her in at night.

In fact, even when she is not going to bed, she will tell me that she is "going night-night" and will lie down on the floor in order for me to tuck her in (using whatever blanket is handy) right then and there. Ever since she was an infant, I always do the same thing. I make sure she is in a comfortable position, place a blanket over her and, with the tips of my fingers, make sure the blanket is shoved about one inch under her body all over. When this routine is over, I lean over, say "night-night" and give her a kiss on the head and tussle her hair.

This does not get old.

Last night, my daughter and I were playing in the living room and she said, "Daddy, YOU go night-night." So, I proceeded to lay on the floor while Elizabeth ran out of the room. She came back from the laundry room with a king size sheet, one quarter crushed up in her arms with the remainder in tow behind her dragging on the floor.

She proceeded to spread the sheet out as flat as she could over me and, with the dedication of a hospice nurse, proceeded to tuck the sheet under me in the same fashion I do to her. Mind you, with her little hands, this took about 10 minutes. Then, when she was done, she stood back to view her achievement, smiled, and proceeded to climb on top of my back. Then, after scaling Mount Dad, she gently kissed the back of my head and said "night-night daddy" and tussled my hair.

A child's mind is kind of like a running lotto machine. There are a lot of balls bouncing around in there and, notwithstanding all your efforts, you are forced to sit there and wait until the balls come up that chute to see if you are going to be a winner. When she climbed up on top of me to give me a kiss on my head, it was like the first ball was called and, with muted excitement, I looked down on my sheet to see that I had my first match.