N Is for Walnuts

One of my gifts to Lily this Christmas was an alphabet puzzle. Each letter is a puzzle piece, and beneath each letter is something in the shape of the that starts with that letter. Under the S, there’s a snake in the shape of an S. Under the D, there a bunch of dominoes laid out in the form of a D. And so on.

Lily and I were working through the puzzle this afternoon, starting with A and heading toward Z. When we got to the N, Lily gave the picture a funny look and said,”N for walnuts?” I laughed out loud. She was right, just too specific. There were indeed walnuts there, in the form of the letter N. I had no idea her nut identification skills were so good. She’s always amazing me with what she knows.

Today was a snow day, in spite of the utter lack of snow on the ground, and that meant the three of us had lots of time to hang out today. It’s cold outside, so we didn’t go anywhere, and staying cooped up in the condo sometimes leads to some short fuses around here, mine included. Working on puzzles with Lily, followed by playing with Justice League action figures, followed by a few piggyback rides around the condo, I was reminded that the best way to prevent conflict and frustration is to keep my girls’ love tanks full. And nothing beats goofing around with Daddy for that.

Image: “Walnut,” Harry, Flickr (CC)