Daddy's trying to keep graham crackers crunchy

My daughter asked me, "Why is a graham cracker crunchy?" I smiled, gave her a bear hug and rolled us across the couch before looking closely in her eyes to say, "Because I ordered 'em special for ya, just so."She laughed, really hard. It was the laugh of a 4-year-old who would kick and scream about being tickled, yet yell for the tickling to start again if it ever stopped. And then Mommy came in. She flopped down on the couch with that little bit of childish drama only parents are allowed to re-live. She had our 13-month-old boy in her arms, and his face immediately dove for his sister's chest. He screamed and tried to knock his head against hers, while flailing his body and wrestling the way a baby boy innately needs and knows how. So all four in our family for a couple seconds hugged, wrestled and rolled together across the battered couch. And then the girl got too excited - maybe a bit jealous that one parent's eyes were on her brother when she rightfully deserved the attention at that specific second.So Mom let out a big "Umph" of finality and we broke our stronghold. There was about a half-second of quietness and no movement. My daughter made a noise and a parent got up to do some important parent thing.Such are the in-between moments of fatherhood and family life that make a papa smile. There is nothing better. I'm so pumped on the fatherly theme right now after reading Tony Overbay's column in last week's paper about answering questions to his young bevy of beauties about how princesses act. To be taken so seriously by my daughter is truly an inspiring test of humor and wit. There was a moment when I was getting worried about her wanting to be, and fascination with, all things princess that I told her she wasn't one. She was a superhero. And oh, how quickly her little eyes filled with tears, her shoulders scrunched up and her face looked away before dashing back to scream with betrayal, "No I'm not; I'm a princess!""Of course you are," I stammered. "I was just joking." My little princess. Often times during an evening, she will click-clack her way to the front room in her plastic princess slippers below a fanciful royal collection of princess costumes and toy crowns to walk up to me and smile. She doesn't say anything, and the pause in her entrance while not breaking eye contact lets me know it's my turn to speak. "You're such a beautiful princess," I say. "Oooh, where did you find such a pretty dress." Because I correctly acted on cue in the Disney movie creation of my little princess, her smile turns brighter before she allows a giggle to erupt and runs for a hug.It's a tall order to fill that at the end of every royal scene my daughter creates, the conclusion is her and I marrying. But I don't mind. There is a little problem beginning to arise, however. Her little mind is beginning to learn the alphabet, recognize numbers and ask more questions. So she asks if I can have two wives. After all, I already have Mommy as my wife. How can I also marry her?"Well, that's an interesting question," I reply. "Maybe you'll meet a man just like me when you're about 25, and then you could find out if he's as princely as me.""And then I'll be the mommy and he'll be the daddy?" she asks.Ouch."Umm, you're the princess," I re-route the conversation. "I'm the daddy and Mommy's the mommy. You're the beautiful princess."She smiles and raises her eyebrows, happy in her father's adoration that I'm more than happy to provide and bask in its reflection.Speaking of my little girl growing, a sudden shift in the power of Daddy knowing all answers to all questions happened last weekend as my daughter, son and I were walking to the Auburn Ravine to see how high the recent rain had made it. I don't remember the question that I answered for her, but I strongly recall she fought my answer."That's not what my friends at school say," she said. So I used logic to explain why Daddy was right.She repeated her mantra about her pre-school peers. Is she 13 or 4?But with sad knowledge that my Daddy powers of having the answers to every question are limited, I'm still doing my best to order graham crackers especially crunchy just for her.