iii. embrace

Baby misses Papa when he goes away in the morning
So every night, she waits for the big door to say,
“Jingle jingle, cli-click, swiiiing~”
then

♥ Papa ♥

Tonight, Papa comes home and hugs Mama;
“Where’s my princess?” he asks
She’s sitting in her high chair, playing with her fingers
“Mm-buh!” Baby burbles, and holds out her arms.

Papa swoops her up and kisses her on the nose.
“Were you good for Mama today, hm?” he coos
Baby doesn’t answer; she’s too busy patting Papa’s face.

Here’s some hair, and nice green-brown eyes,
and a nose, and a (BIG) mouth, and -

Her eyes widen in surprise.
What’s this?
Scratchy. Papa is scratchy.

Curious, Baby touches it (oh, but she's real careful)
Scratchy does not hurt her finger.
So she puts her hands over Scratchy, and squeaks happily when it tickles her palms.

Papa is puzzled, and he looks at Mama.
She laughs. “I think she’s telling you that you need a shave.”