This morning I pointed out to Molly that some of her responses have been kind of snide lately.

She said, “Well, I learned from the best. Like father like daughter. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. As ye sow so shall ye reap.”

Oh, dear lord, what hath I wrought?

I told Molly that I am thinking of dressing her up in a turkey costume for Thanksgiving.

She said, "Ooooh, oooooh. Yes. That's awesome. I would look so cute. Where's the costume? Show me! Show me!"

"Really? You actually want me to dress you up like a turkey?"

"Uh, yeah. No."

Apparently she knew I was bluffing.

Molly tells me that she doesn't give a damn about Thanksgiving. Holiday or no, I'm still taking her to the dog park.

This morning, sitting on the couch, there was a noise out in the street. Molly's ears perked straight up.

“Hey Molly”, I whispered.

“Yes, dad”, she whispered back.

“You can hear me.”

“Of course I can hear you. Why?”

“Sometimes I think you’ve got amazing hearing, other times it seems like you can’t hear me at all.”

“Sometimes I care what you are saying, other times I don’t care at all.”

Well, that was brutally honest. “Geeze, don’t bother sugar coating it.”

“Yeah, well, hey. I haven’t had my coffee yet. Besides, why are we whispering?”

This morning, as I was making pancakes, Molly watched me with great attention. Perhaps she is thinking of making me breakfast in bed over the holidays?

This morning at breakfast, Molly told me that she has decided to be Asian.

“I’m not sure you know what that means”, I told her, “Why have you decided to be Asian?”

She said that yesterday, at the dog park, she met a really nice dog who said he was Asian, so she’s decided that she will be Asian too.

I tried to explain to her that it doesn’t quite work that way – you can’t just decide to be Asian. You either are, or you’re not.

“Why not?” she pressed on, pouting slightly.

It took a while to stifle my laughter. Then, in the kindest possible way, I said that if you have Asian ancestors, and you’re born in Asia, then you’re Asian. “You could also be something like ‘Asian American’, if your ancestors are Asian, but you are born in America. No matter how nice Asian dogs might be, you don’t have Asian ancestors, and you were born here, so, you’re not Asian.”

All she said was, “I’m Asian”, and then walked away.

So, I guess I have an Asian dog. We’ll see if she’s still Asian after she meets a nice dog from Brazil, or Germany, or Nigeria.

“Hey Molly, you look a bit down.” Immediately she lay down. “No, geesh. I didn’t mean lay down.”

“Then why did you say ‘down’?”

“It’s just an expression.”

“Well, you said ‘down’, and I lay down, so you owe me a treat.”

“OK, next time I’m near the treat jar, remind me and I’ll give you a treat.”

“You can count on it!”

“Anyway, you seem a little depressed.”

“I seem depressed? I’ve just been giving you some space because you seem depressed.”

“Well, things have been a bit hard since COVID.”

“What’s COVID?” she asked.

“It’s a dangerous disease that humans get, and it has been going around infecting a lot of people.”

“Huh. Well, that explains some things. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to worry you. Its only something humans get.”

“Mmmmmm. I see why you didn’t bother me with this. It’s not like there are any humans I care about.” She snarked.

“Yeah, your right. I should have told you. So, you’ve been giving me my space?”

“Yes, you seem down and a bit snippy, so I’ve been giving you some space.”

“I’ve been snippy?”

“Yes, daddy. You’ve been snippy. And distant.

“Geee, I’m sorry. Thank you for being so understanding.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Now, about that treat.”