Sparkle Girl and the Cute-O-Meter

As part of the morning ritual on school days, I inspect Sparkle Girl before she heads out off to school.

A while back, I drew a little meter to measure her cuteness. Noting that my paltry effort was clearly not up to the job, she drew her own Cute-O-Meter.

Just before it’s time to take her to school, she brings in the meter, which we keep in its own envelope to minimize wear and tear, and presents it to me at the kitchen table.

I sit in a chair and place the Cute-O-Meter on the table in front of me. Starting with her shoes, I work my way up, noting such things as whether the shirt and headband are color coordinated.

Once that is done, we check out the final item – her smile. Seeing that is one of my favorite parts of the day.

We don’t have an arrow for our Cute-O-Meter so I take a pen, place one end in the center of meter’s base and rotate the other end through the various levels. The pen quickly moves beyond “Quadruple Cute.” As the pen enters the upper levels of the meter’s measuring scale, it slows down.

It goes slower and slower until it finally “breaks” the meter going into “Too Cute to Measure” territory at which point I go, “DING! DING! DING! Too cute to measure!”

Part of the ritual is Sparkle Girl being startled by the “Ding! Ding! Ding!”

The first few days, a combination of timing and misdirection enabled me to truly startle her. That didn’t last long, though. So, to keep me happy, Sparkle Girl pretends that she is surprised even when I don’t pull it off.

She’s thoughtful that way.

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