Katie Prejean McGrady
By Katie Prejean McGrady • Catholic News Service • Posted April 16, 2021
Every morning, as we wait in the drop-off line at school, my daughter Rose and I share a pack of Belvita breakfast cookies.
It’s usually my breakfast, half of it siphoned off by an already fed (but quickly growing) 3-year-old who is about to have quite a full day in her pre-K classroom. I usually don’t mind sharing.
But lately, Rose began asking if we could bring two packs with us in the morning.
At first, I assumed it was so she could have her own, so I said no. But she kept asking, and then one day, she cleverly sneaked an extra pack into her backpack.
Katie Prejean McGrady
Our bedtime routine with our 3-year-old daughter is quite simple.
Bath. Nighttime snack of strawberries and grapes. Read books. Brush teeth. Potty. Say our prayers. Tuck her under the covers. Kiss on the forehead. Lights out.
It takes about 30 minutes, give or take the number of books she grabs off the shelf.
Every night, as we walk out of her room, she softly asks, “Mommy? Daddy? Do you think the ice cream truck is gonna come tomorrow?”
The ice cream truck comes down our street on Sunday afternoons. We’re faithful customers, even though it’d be far more cost effective to buy a box of ice cream sandwiches from the grocery store. But Rose loves to run to greet the mask-wearing ice cream truck driver, surrounded by the neighborhood kids rushing out of their homes to dance to the tinny music pouring out of the truck’s old speakers.