"Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!"

So it had become a habit with Sydney that whenever she woke up -- whether in the middle of the night, early morning or nap time -- she would call out repeatedly for Stacy or I ("Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!") until one of us came to her room.

One day before bed I explained to her that she didn't need to call out repeatedly, that it took daddy a little while to get to her room once she called the first time. I explained that she should call out once and then count to 10 before calling for me again. She agreed that she would try to do that next time and with a kiss goodnight, it was lights out.

About 2 AM, I am suddenly awaken to Sydney's call. I could tell that she had listened to me for instead of the usually "Daddy, Daddy, Daddy!' it was replaced with "Daddy! 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10 Daddy!" all at the top of her voice! I was very proud of her extremely literal execution of my request.