i had offered to watch my 3-year-old daughter, ramanda, so that my wife could go out with a friend. i was getting some work done while ramanda appeared to be having a good time in the other room. no problem, i figured. but then it got a little too quiet and i yelled1 out, "what are you doing, ramanda?" no response. i repeated my question and heard her say, "oh...nothing." nothing? what does "nothing" mean?
i got up from my desk and ran out into the living room, whereupon（于是） i saw her take off down the hall. i chased her up the stairs and watched her as her little behind made a hard left into the bedroom. i was gaining on her! she took off for the bathroom. bad move. i had her cornered. i told her to turn around. she refused. i pulled out my *g, mean, authoritative2 daddy voice, "young lady, i said turn around!"
slowly, she turned toward me. in her hand was what was left of my wife's new lipstick3（口红，唇膏） . and *ry square inch of her face was covered with bright red (except her lips of course)!
as she looked up at me with fearful eyes, lips trembling, i heard *ry voice that had been shouted to me as a child. "how could you...you should know better than that...how many times have you been told...what a bad thing to do..." it was just a matter of my picking out which old message i was going to use on her so that she would know what a bad girl she had been. but before i could let loose（释放，屈服） , i looked down at the sweatshirt my wife had put on her only an hour before. in *g letters it said, "i'm a perfect little angel!" i looked back up into her tearful eyes and instead of seeing a bad girl who didn't listen, i saw a child of god...a perfect little angel full of worth, value and a wonderful spontaneity4（自发性） that i had come *erously close to shaming out of her.
"sweetheart, you look beautiful! let's take a picture so mommy can see how special you look." i took the picture and thanked god that i didn't miss the opportunity to reaffirm what a perfect little angel he had given me.
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