littlehouse The eight and six year olds, who have been working their way through the Laura Ingalls Wilder stories at bedtime, currently are in the midst of Little Town on the Prairie.

Although this is generally Mrs. R’s project, last evening I happened to be the one doing the reading. The chapter we read, entitled “Blackbirds”, contains a very long and detailed description of the dress that Ma Ingalls – with the help of her daughters – puts together for Mary in preparation for Mary’s heading off to college. The description covers materials, preparation, sewing techniques and seemingly every step from picking out the fabric to eventually buttoning Mary into the complete package.

Why is this subversive, you ask? Because I hadn’t the remotest idea what I was talking about most of the time and the gels were continually peppering me with questions that I simply couldn’t answer.

How the heck am I supposed to maintain my facade of Daddy Omniscience under such circumstances? It’s a conspyracy, I tell ya!