A few nights ago I was working at my computer when Annie strolled over to me and said, “Dad, do you know any magic?” This made me smile – I love that she’s at an age where the prospect that her dad knows magic is totally reasonable.
“Why yes,” I said, arching an eyebrow. “I do happen to know a little magic.”
Unfortunately, I didn’t actually know any magic. I searched my mind, trying to think of any trick I might have picked up from TV or my junior high locker room, but the only thing that popped into my mind was that stupid “pull a coin out of the ear” schtick. There was no way I was going to do that, but then I remembered that Annie was three and there was a good chance she wouldn’t find it as lame and cliche as I did.
“You know what I can do?” I said in my best David Copperfield voice. “I can pull a quarter…. A QUARTER… out of your ear!”
Annie’s eyes widened. “Out of my head?”
“Uh, yeah,” I told my little weirdo, then reached into my pocket, palmed a quarter, and “pulled” it out of Annie’s ear.
Annie’s mind? Blown.
“Here,” I told her. “Put the quarter in your piggy bank.”
Of course, Annie being Annie, she wanted me to pull a quarter out of her ear over, and over, and over again. Eventually – some time the next day – she’d dropped every last coin in our home into her piggy bank.
“Can you pull another coin out of my head, Dad?” she soon asked, all excited.
“I’m afraid there are no more coins in your head, sweetie. They’re all gone.”
You’d think that not having any coins in your head would be a good thing, but Annie clearly didn’t feel that way. Feeling bad, I improvised and said, “But… uh… there might be something else in there.”
I scanned the room, searching, until my eyes settled on the salt shaker. I snatched it up, hid it behind my back, then quickly pulled it out of her ear.
“Whoa! That was in my head, too?”
“It sure was. Right next to your medulla oblangata.”
That’s when things started to get silly. Before you knew it the items I was taking out of her ear were bigger and bigger: my wallet, my phone, sunglasses…
And then things got ridiculous:
How exactly did I pull that off, you ask? Well, I just snapped twice near her right ear with my left hand, then when she turned to the sound I quickly “pulled” the bread from her right ear. Magic!
At this point Annie was laughing with a twinkle in her eye, and I don’t think she quite believed any of this stuff was actually coming out of her ear. She loved to pretend it was, though.
That night Heather’s mom, Linda, came over and Annie ran up to her, breathless.
“Grandma! There’s bread in my head!”
Who says I don’t know magic?
Annalisa says:
I bet St. Grandma’s expression of confusion at that statement was priceless too.
Gail says:
Reminds me of when my sister and I would hang my niece by her feet and jiggle her a little and then one of us would drop coins on the floor. For years whenever she needed money (to buy candy or a slurpee), she would ask us to turn her upside down to see if there was any money in her head. Lol.
Molly says:
That’s awesome! I love the look on her face.
Skye says:
That is so insanely cute! Oh, to be Annie’s age again. Kids have such a great sense of magic.
Pattie says:
Her surprised expression in that second pic is priceless.
Rachel says:
I love this post. Annie is lucky to have a great dad like you! =)
Elizabeth McKinney says:
This is the funniest post. Annie’s face is priceless!
lissa says:
How fun !! My kids are 9 and 8 and they still believe that I can pull stuff out of their ear. When they have lost something they ask me to see if it is behind their ear =) Once I know what they are looking for I tell them I felt something but couldn’t reach it. Later, after I find what they need, I ask them if I can try again – and magically it’s there =)
Auntie_M says:
ROFL!!! You pulled a whole LOAF outta her head???? That IS amazing!!!! I love it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
And I love that Annie let you think that she believed that you could pull a whole loaf of bread out of her head!
But, boy, Grandma must’ve been confused/shocked to hear that one!!!
Mike says:
Ha! Yes, Grandma was very confused! Thankfully we were able to explain… I often wonder what people think when Annie say things like this to people when I’m not around to explain!
Auntie_M says:
They either think, “I must not have heard that right…” or “What an amazing imagination this child has…” never guessing that it’s ALL TRUE!!!!!!!!!
Auntie_M says:
BTW–You might have magic, but I was bestowed with Super Powers yesterday by my 4 year old niece. I bet it’s a Super Power you’ve never heard of! The Power of Peaches! Yes, you read that right–Peaches!!!! I was a little bummed as those around me got fireballs, fire swords, ability to breathe out fire. But I think maybe my gift is better than her mom’s: her weapon: ballet! LOL What does that say about the gracefulness meter around here! It was soooo hard not to laugh out loud, but we all managed! Now that is a real super power!!!
http://musingsfromauntiem.blogspot.com/2013/07/super-powers.html
Mike says:
The power of peaches. That is a new one!
Auntie_M says:
New–but awesome, if I do say so myself! LOL