Finishing up with the usual bedtime routine, bath, teeth and that last drink before bed, I casually bring up calling Daddy to Tesla. 

“How about you call your Dad before we go downstairs?” I asked.

(I had asked earlier in the day, twice I think and she declined.  She doesn’t ask to call very often.  The more I push her to call the more she refuses.  Must be the bull in her.  She gets it honestly.)

“No thank you.” she responded, taking a drink from her cup.

“I think it hurts your Daddy’s feelings when you don’t call him, Tess.” I spoke gently, not wanting to start an argument with an almost 5-year-old over calling her dad.

“Daddy doesn’t have feelings.” she responded just as sweetly as I had just spoken.

I was speachless. 

~P.