Kate and the bear

The other day, Kate and her Grandparents were playing her new favorite game, "Attack of the Bear," which starts with Kate hiding in her Dora tent, screaming, "Pops!! Be a BEAR!!" Pops then stands outside the tent, growling and batting it around, until Kate jumps out and runs to her Grammy screaming "SAVE ME!" and Grammy then "saves" Kate by holding her until Bear Pops turns back into normal Pops. Then she runs back into the tent and the cycle continues, until Grammy gets tired of playing and hands Kate a plastic golf club and tells her to defend herself by hitting the bear until he plays dead (or gets a concussion from a hard plastic stick to the head, whichever comes first).

A few days ago, Pops decided to mess with the system and actually CAUGHT Kate during her flight to safety. He was wrestling and tickling her and they had the following conversation:

Pops: I'm the BEAR and I'm going to EAT YOU UP!

Kate: NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Pops: Yum, I'm the BEAR, and I'm going to EAT YOU UP! I'm SO HUNGRY!

Kate: NO BEAR, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

Pops: Here I go, I'm going to EAT YOU UP!

Kate: No Bear, don't eat me!! I'm just TOO CUTE.

What can I say, except obviously we are teaching Kate the lessons she needs to live a long and fruitful life. Like the tried and true lesson that cute will save you from a horrible fate, including but not limited to being eaten by a bear in the woods.

It just makes good sense.