Riding Along in my Automobile

On Sunday, March the twenty-fifth, Clara Grace’s Daddy allowed her to pretend she was driving his big, red car while he worked on cleaning the automobile. Once it was clear that Clara Grace had mastered horn honking, a new game had to be found, so her daddy put her into her little motorized, blue car. After a few more minutes of productive cleaning, her daddy heard the whirring sound of the battery-operated motor, alerting him that Clara Grace was on the move. He looked up to see her pulling out of the garage and into the driveway as though she’d been driving all her life.

Whatever Works

Clara Grace was visiting her Nana and Baba in Michigan on Wednesday, March the twenty-second. All the grown-ups were finishing lunch that afternoon and clearly not paying Clara Grace enough attention, so she devised a plan. She toddled down the hall to her bedroom, climbed up onto the bed and grabbed her changing pad. Then, she dragged the pad back down the hall, and laid it out flat near the table. Once she had situated herself in a comfortable supine position on the mat she announced, “Diaper.” Upon inspection, her mommy found the little girl not very in need of a new diaper, but the plan had succeeded.

English Language Learner

On the morning of March the thirty-first, Clara Grace greeted her daddy with the words, “Hi, diaper, yes.”

It is amazing what social skills and conversation topics Clara Grace can glean from her meager vocabulary. She began a new custom on Saturday, April the first, which she maintained for months afterwards. Her mommy and daddy had taken her out for an omelet at the Waffle House. Of course, it wasn’t long before one of the waitresses stopped to say hello to the adorable little girl. Clara Grace returned the greeting and then, so as not to be rude, went on with further introductions. “Mommy,” she informed the waitress and patted her mommy. “Daddy,” she announced pointing across the booth to where her daddy sat.

Due to a backup in the dishwasher drain, Daddy spent all of the first week in April putting in a new kitchen floor. Fortunately this time, he had occasional help on the job. Whenever Clara Grace wandered into the worksite, she dutifully handed Daddy a nail and then joined in the hammering by exclaiming, “Boom, boom, boom!”

Jump!

On Thursday, March the sixteenth Clara Grace bent low to the ground, then thrust her arms up into the air with a loud exclamation of “Mmmm!” The sheer force of this motion actually propelled one foot from the ground. It was clear that this was Clara Grace’s first attempt at a jump. Within several weeks, both feet cleared two to three inches and she began replacing the exclamation with the actual word “Jump!”