and I’m the dad.

Beep beep! Stop walking!

[Scene:	Beth, age 4, is on a nature walk with me when she stops suddenly]
Beth:	"Beep beep! Stop, Daddy."
Me:	[looks over] "What's wrong?"
Beth:	[holds up rock and presses it with her thumb] "You are a robot, Daddy! And this is your remote. Stop walking!"
Me:	"Okay." [stops]
Beth:	"Beep beep! Now look around carefully."
Me:	"Okay." [turns head around, surveying the area]
Beth:	"Beep beep! Nothing found. Keep walking."
Me:	"Okay." [resume walking]
Beth:	[waits five seconds] "Beep beep! Stop walking!"
Me:	"Okay."
	[the stop/look/resume process repeats 3-4 times]
Beth:	"Beep boop!"
Me:	"Boop?"
Beth:	[pressing madly on the rock] "Uh oh, Daddy. The 'keep walking' button is stuck!"
Me:	"So what does that mean?"
Beth:	"I think the batteries are dead. You're just going to have to stand here while I go in for hot chocolate. Sorry, Daddy!"

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For previously noted songs of Beth, age 4, see this (or these from Luke: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, or 7).

A few recent lines:

Inchworm, inchworm, measuring my butt. / I hope it’s not as big as it looks.
There’s a robot / Driving down the road / Uh oh, uh oh / I stepped on it to pieces!
Girls are beautiful, girls are pretty / but boys are just boys.
My brain is sending a message to my hand / and it says hello, hand!

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Love Robot

Beth:	[age 4] "Daddy, I love you! Beep beep beep!"
Me:	"I love you too, sweetheart. What's the beeping for?"
Beth:	"I'm a Love Robot! Beep boop beep!"

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Very cute. I completely sympathize with this robot dad.

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Meeting robot

Me:	"Next week I've got to go to on a trip."
Luke:	[age 7] "Where?"
Me:	"To a meeting in D.C. I'll be gone for the day."
Luke:	"You should just make a robot that looks like you, and send that instead. You could make it act just like you, with remote control voice activation so you can speak into a microphone and make it talk and move."
Me:	"I don't know if there is enough time to build that before I go."
Luke:	"You'd have to make it really realistic though. Like, what if it gets in an accident and has to go to the doctor's office? You would have to make it so it would trick the doctor too."
Me:	"I'm guessing you don't want me to go."
Luke:	"No, I don't."
Me:	"Maybe I should make that robot and leave it here with you, while I go on my trip."
Luke:	"Oh, I would know the difference."
Me:	"If it can trick a doctor, it might trick you too."
Luke:	"Nah. Besides, the people at the meeting would think it was weird if you were saying things into a microphone to other people who weren't there."
Me:	"You've thought of everything, huh?"
Luke:	"I always do."

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At the request of my kids, I drew Dora the Explorer as a space robot.

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