daddy dogpile

1. What is something Daddy always says to you?

G:  Gwendolyn, obey your mother!

L:  “Hi, Bud.”

C:  “Obey me.”  “Obey the parents.”  “It’s OK”

2. What makes Daddy happy?

G: Seeing Grandma and Grandpa Sam.

L: When I clean up my room. When he comes home from work and I rush to give him a hug and kiss.

C: When the house is very clean.  When he gets to stay home from work.

3. What makes Daddy sad?

G: When he has to go to work for a long time and then come home and make dinner and then it’s something we don’t like and we say, “yuck!”

L: When I don’t clean up my room and when I don’t obey.

C: Hmmm.  When he has to go to work in the morning.

4. How does Daddy make you laugh?

G: Making funny jokes and turning on the TV to something funny.  Like Avatar.

L: Does funny things like plays with us and jumps us on the trampoline.

C: Uh, tickles me.

5. What was Daddy like when he was your age?

G: [I don’t know.  I didn’t live back then.]  He liked to read.

L: He liked Transformers, like me!

C: I can’t tell!  I wasn’t born!

6. How old is Daddy?

G: 39.

L: Ummmm, I don’t know!  37?

C: 70?

7. How tall is Daddy?

G: Six feet. And a quarter.

L: A couple inches taller than four feet.

C: 10 feet tall.

8. What is his favorite thing to watch on TV?

G: Simpsons or some other weird cartoon.

L: I don’t know.  Maybe watching me play my video game?

C: His exercise video.

9. What does Daddy do when you're not around?
G: Eats chocolate and watches movies with you and does printing and goes to work (but I don’t go to work).
L: Plays with the baby.
C: He plays video games.

10. If Daddy becomes famous, what will it be for?

G: Anise Press things.

L: His love of books.

C: Being a librarian.

11. What is Daddy really good at?

G: Printing.  And getting splinters out of my fingers.

L: Being a Daddy. And being good with books! Jumping on the . . . uh, playing with us.

C: He’s really good at being a librarian.

12. What is Daddy not so good at?

G: Dripping food on his shirt.

L: I can’t think of anything he’s not good at.

C: Playing Wild Kratts video games.  He’s never played them before, so that’s why he’s not very good at them.

13. What does Daddy do for his job?

G: Goes to work.  He’s a librarian of rare books.  And he works at Anise Press.

L: I know! Works at Cushing Library.

C: He’s a librarian.

  

14. What is Daddy’s favorite food?

G: Stir fry.  Like you.

L: Stir Fry. No, Chicken Chow Mein!

C: Stir fry.

15. What makes you proud of Daddy? 

G: That he can get splinters out of my fingers and that he’s nice and funny.  He knows a lot of stuff, like book stuff.

L: Daddy’s so good at so many things!

C: ‘Cause he’s a librarian.

16. If Daddy were a fictional character, who would he be? 

G: Q-bert.

L: Peabrain from Dark Cloud.

C: [I explain, “from a book or a movie or…” Casper finishes, “or an opera?”] A knight.

17. What do you and Daddy do together?

G: Talk. Mostly play video games because my brothers ask to play video games all the time.  We eat dinner together with the rest of the family.

L: We go to Hobby Town together.  We play together.

C: We play a video game.

18. How are you and Daddy the same? 

G: We both have brown hair.  Sort of.  We have the same nose, too.

L: We both like playing video games together.

C: We have close colored hair.

19. How are you and Daddy different? 

G: He’s a boy.  And he’s older than me.

L: I don’t work at a job like Daddy does.

C: We don’t have the same size shoes or pants.

20. How do you know Daddy loves you? 

G: ‘Cause he says it all the time and he wouldn’t play with he if he didn’t.

L: ‘Cause he says it all the time and I’ve asked him before.

C: ‘Cause he says so.

21. What does Daddy like most about Mama?  

G: That you eat chocolate together and that you’re fun, and that you’re nice and that you’re his wife.

L: That you were married in the temple. That we can live together forever.

C: That you’re the kids’ mama.

22. Where is Daddy’s favorite place to go? 

G: To take a nap.

L: Burger House!

C: Bowling.  These are just things we’re guessing, right Mama?  They aren’t actually places he likes to go, right?

23. What is Daddy’s favorite song?

G: I have no idea.  He likes a lot of songs, but I think he likes “Help,” probably.  Did Linus say Help?  I want to change mine. A really long song, probably. One of the ones they do in Howl’s Moving Castle or Princess Mononoke.

L: Help!

C: I think Daddy’s favorite song is, “Help!”

24. What is Daddy’s favorite book?

G: The book he’s reading right now, but I have no idea what that is.  Or maybe a book about poetry.

L: I have no idea. I know this much: he likes very old books.  But he likes all kinds of books, too.

C: Goosey-Gander?  It’s about a boy who turns into a Tomten & he rides on a goose’s back and there are foxes who try to catch them and eat them.  There’s also goats.  The Adventures of Nils! That’s what it’s called.

25. What is Daddy’s favorite show?

G: The Simpsons.

L: “How to be a great librarian”

C: Simpsons.

26. What would Daddy do with a million dollars?

G: Move to Utah or Idaho and start Anise Press bigger and teaching typing lessons and making paper and stuff.

L: Get things we need.  Buy a new press.

C: Buy a Subaru.


Mama here: These kids know their Daddy pretty well, but what may not come across in this interview is how in love with this man they are -- as they should be.  Todd is such an incredible dad.  Patient and gentle and engaged and eager.  He's always wrapped up in building projects or stories or elaborate, imaginative games with the kids.  He's the parent who goes out of his way to make sure the favorite birthday cake is baked  and the adventures are had and the bedtime story is never missed.  Watching the love of my life be a father just melts my heart and makes me even more wild in love with him.  And I didn't think that was possible.  You lucky kids, you have the world's best dad.

.....................................................................................................

 This post is part of a promotion with FamilySearch.