This one is just for my mom

Susan is the only one brave enough to call me out for being so slack (has it really been a MONTH?!) and to that I say Kudos. Somebody needs to give me a kick in the pants, that's for sure!

To get back in gear, I offer this from tonight:

I stepped into the living room to find David and Ella tied up in knots tickling each other. Each is as ticklish as the other, so it would be a fair fight... if one wasn't 31 and the other 5. Even with the odds stacked against her, Ella continues to struggle, yell, laugh, struggle some more, laugh and land a tiny, glancing tickle here and there. Meanwhile, David knows he should show her mercy, but it's really not in his nature to do so. So he doesn't. And Ella cries out 'I'm going to pee my pants!' at random intervals, and I'm not convinced that it's just for effect.

Thinking that I might need to even out the odds a bit, I tell Ella that if she were a smart girl, she would ask for some tips or tricks from someone who might know a thing or two about tickling Daddy. (David, under his breath: 'Even though Daddy asks her not to and she does it anyway...')

'Who's that?' she asks.

'Who do you think?' David replies.

Ella searches her brain for the most logical answer, given the fact that she's having a tickle fight with her daddy, and guesses 'Grandma? Grandpa?'

'No...' David says, '...who is the meanest person in this house?'

And Ella, filled with the conviction of a 5 year old who knows the answer, says in a most loud and most clear voice: 'MAMA!'

And don't y'all forget it.