My daughter just called me on the phone to tell me she loves me. Enjoy it while it lasts, right? Although, I’m beginning to get the feeling that she may just be softening me up for something. She’s been after some new toys.

We’ve been inundated with Christmas catalogs. She was thumbing through one recently while a friend of my wife’s was at the house. She brought the catalog over to her and pointed to a page of toys and announced that this was something she wants. The friend asked enthusiastically, “Oh, really? Which one?”

To which my daughter replied, matter-of-factly but with a gleam in her eye as she looked adoringly at the page, “All of them.”