Spelling Bee in Training

Clara Grace and her mommy sat on the kitchen floor playing with refrigerator magnets on Wednesday, October the twenty-seventh. Clara Grace plucked three letters from the door and held them out for her mommy’s inspection. “Hmmm, F, R, S. Well if you added a U it could be furs, or maybe an I and a T would make first.” Clara Grace retrieved her letters and as if aware of the new point of the game plucked two others from the door. “GO” was the first word she spelled all on her own. Whether Clara Grace is blessed with extremely high intelligence, or whether she has merely inherited her mommy’s uncanny good luck, it is clear she will go far in life.

Kissy Litter

Thursday, October the twenty-seventh, Clara Grace blew her first kiss to mommy. It took almost no time for her to realize the vast potential this one gesture held for obtaining attention from family to complete strangers. If kisses were tangible things, the isles of stores, neighborhood streets, and house floors would be littered with the thousands she liberally dispensed during her first years.

Would You Like some Cheese with Your Shoes?

Wednesday, October the twelfth, Clara Grace announced “Shus” as her mommy slipped her shoe over her wiggling foot. The following week, Wednesday the twenty-sixth, she announced, “Chus!” as her mommy opened the refrigerator drawer where the dairy products are stored.

Tickles and Kisses

Clara Grace was particularly charming on Wednesday, October the fifth. She crawled over to mommy and tickled the toes. Her mommy rewarded her with a high-pitched, “hee hee hee!” which prompted the same giggle from Clara Grace as well as many more tickles. When her mommy couldn’t stand it any more, she bent down and retrieved the little girl for a kiss. Clara Grace seemed to find this fascinating and brought her round cheek close for mommy to kiss time and time again. Each time, she screamed for fun.

Morning Duties

Clara Grace has what has become almost an obsessive-compulsive ritual to complete each and every morning. Each day, before she cries out to alert her mommy and daddy that she is awake, they hear one by one, pacifiers kerplunking to the nursery floor. When the binkies are all dispatched, Clara Grace calls out her greeting to the world. Each morning, mommy or daddy enters and lifts her from her bed, but before any good morning kisses or hugs can be dispensed, business must be taken care of. The little girl wriggles until she is set down on the floor. Then she pops one pacifier in her mouth and collects two for each hand. Now she stands and is ready to be hoisted back up to the side of her crib where she ceremoniously pitches the pacies to bounce around on the waiting mattress. It seems her day cannot begin until each and every binky is in its proper place. This ritual carried on well into her first year.