Exploring

Phoebe and I have an hour to kill before we have to collect Emily from school. We'd usually go to the playground, but it's been raining and everything is going to be horribly muddy.

"I know, Dad! Let's go exploring!"

"What a good idea my darling! We'll go exploring like Dora! You can be Dora the Explorer!"

She looks at me with scorn "Don't be silly, Daddy. I'm not Dora. [What? Are we over the Dora craze already?] I'm Scooby Doo!" She bounds off delightedly and shouts over her shoulder: "And you're shaggy!"

Well, a little unkempt maybe, but I don't think there's any need to... Oh, right. Shaggy. OK, well. given the alternatives, I suppose I can live with that...

(And in the meantime, I get to wondering if there's any way of persuading Phoebe to eat something nutritious - a falafel or a lentil croquette, say - by persuading her that it's a Scooby Snack. Probably not.)