A Spoonful of Sugar is the Medicine

The morning of Saturday, August the nineteenth, was not a good one for either Clara Grace or her parents. While Clara Grace’s mommy faithfully manned the family yard sale intended to make room for Clara Grace’s soon to arrive baby brother, Clara Grace and her Daddy marched around the front yard hand in hand until the little girl took a notion to run toward the road. Instinctively, Clara Grace’s Daddy squeezed tighter to his daughter’s hand. After a strong tug from the little toddler, she whimpered in surprise, “Arm hurts!” She grasped her wrist and held it straight out gingerly. This resulted in an emergency trip to the doctor who coincidentally happened to be the very same physician who had treated Clara Grace’s mommy when she was a little girl.

“Nursemaid’s elbow,” he said definitively on first sight of the poor toddler supporting her left arm straight out by the wrist.

“I think it might actually be her wrist—“ Clara Grace’s Daddy tried to protest. “I felt a little pop and she’s been holding it—”

Before he could finish though, the doctor had Clara Grace on her mommy’s lap and had begun bending the little girl’s injured arm in what could only be described as rubber-like contortions. “It’s back in place,” the doctor reported, “she should feel better in a few hours.”

The poor little girl sat uncharacteristically motionless on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and propped her arm just as before. Finally, her mommy made the hard decision to go ahead and bring her to Nicholas’s birthday party in the hopes that she would be distracted from her misery. As expected, Clara Grace cheered up on seeing all the lively children, but hung back from fully joining in their raucous play. When it came time to eat, she allowed her mommy to hand feed her yummy cheese and crackers, hotdogs, and macaroni, but still felt it necessary to prop her left arm.

The moment of miraculous healing at last occurred when Nicholas’s mommy held out a vanilla and a chocolate cup cake to Clara Grace and asked which one she preferred. All memories of pain seemed to vanish as the little girl stretched out both arms and grasped the two cakes simultaneously.

Invented-but-Accurate English

Clara Grace’s daddy heard a tiny rumble as he watched his daughter in the bathtub on the night of Tuesday, August the fifteenth. “I Tooted!” Clara Grace informed him proudly. “Yes you did,” her daddy replied. “Bubbles!” the little girl went on discovering a new bath time diversion.

The next day, a similar tiny rumble issued from the little girl while she played with her toys in the nursery. “I bubblesed!” she exclaimed.

An Announcement

Monday, August the seventh, Clara Grace surprised her mommy by announcing from her high chair “Two spoons.” And “Two yogurts.” Which happened to be precisely the cargo her mommy had just deposited on the table for their breakfast.

Caught a Cat by the Tail

An extremely amiable cat frequented Clara Grace’s yard during her second summer. After a few meetings, the little girl developed enough courage to chase down the friendly animal and pet it’s soft back. The short-lived friendship ended abruptly however when Clara Grace decided to invite the cat into her house. Not knowing the words for a formal welcome, she decided the best plan was to take hold of the cat’s orange tail and pull in the direction of the front door. Needless to say, it was several months before Clara Grace ever could get close enough to the cat to attempt to reestablish their relationship. Her mommy took this time to give a few lessons on feline etiquette. After this instruction, Clara Grace never failed to treat the posterior of a cat’s body with proper respect. Whenever she viewed her estranged friend at a distance across the street, she would call ruefully as he scampered out of sight, “Bye bye cat, bye bye tail!”

Conversational English Progresses

Clara Grace can be said to have carried on one of her very first conversations of substance on Friday, July the fourteenth. On this afternoon, she was again watching vehicles as they whirled past her car seat. “Truck,” she announced and stared after a pickup that had caught her attention.

“You’re right,” Clara Grace’s mommy told her from the front seat, “that’s a truck.”

“Dirty truck,” Clara Grace elaborated.

“Yep, trucks get dirty a lot,” her mommy answered.

“Need to wash it,” the little girl continued.

“He does need to wash his truck,” her mommy agreed.
“Wash with water,” Clara Grace concluded apparently guessing that if it worked for her bath time, it couldn’t be a bad idea for this dirty truck as well.

Butt Nothin'

Clara Grace and her daddy prepared to board an elevator on Thursday, July thirteenth. Unfortunately, her daddy wasn’t aware of the new responsibility his daughter had recently inherited from her mommy of pushing the buttons. The little girl looked on in utter disbelief as her daddy called the elevator to their floor and the number four button lit brightly. “My butt!” she announced as she tried to convey her frustration. “My butt! My butt!”

It was during these last enthusiastic exclamations that the elevator doors slid open to reveal a full cart. “My butt!" Clara Grace protested once more then turned to the crowd, waved, and offered a cheery “Hello!” Once that courtesy was out of the way, she turned back to her daddy and, just for good measure, reminded him once more, “My butt!” Of course, this evoked riotous laughter from the confused elevator passengers.

True Love

Clara Grace’s Daddy called to say that he had made it safely to his hotel in California for another short speaking engagement on Sunday, July ninth. He talked to his daughter on the telephone for a while and then told her he would call her back the next day. When he said, “Bye, bye, Clara Grace answered, “Love you” unprompted for the very first time.

Woo-Car

Clara Grace’s attentiveness to the automobiles that barreled past her car window was obvious. She could identify already cars, trucks, busses, “Woo cars” (police cars), and fire trucks. On Sunday, July the ninth, she watched curiously as a car with a screeching fan belt drove past. Sympathetically she pointed after the vehicle in need of repair and commented, “Ah-oh, car cry.”

It's Only Fair

Clara Grace’s daddy prepared to tuck Clara Grace in for her afternoon nap on Thursday, July the sixth. The little girl realized for the first time, that she would like to start another bedtime routine and insisted, “Mommy kiss.” Ever since then, no matter which parent gets her ready for bed, the other must at least receive one kiss before she drops off to sleep.

Sweet and Salty Dreams

Clara Grace had taken Tylenol for her swollen gums and fever but still lay in bed with mommy during a restless night of teething Monday, July the third. At least for that night, her mommy didn’t have to wonder too much about the dreams flitting through her daughter’s tiny brain. In her sleep, Clara Grace contentedly murmured, “chicken, yummy yum yum.”

I Think So

Sunday, July the second, Clara Grace asked her mommy from the backseat of the car, “Is Nonnie here?” The little girl had obviously been missing her cousin Donnie whom she’d played with under Grandma’s supervision while her mommy taught Spanish a few hours each week during the school year. Mommy said sadly, “I don’t think so.” Much to her mommy’s surprise, Clara Grace replied confidently, “I think so.”

Food Critic

No matter how enthusiastically her parents presented vegetables, fruits, and meats, Clara Grace never seemed quite able to trust many foods that strayed too far from some shade of beige. Needless to say, her mommy and daddy smiled politely, but didn’t slow down when a not so savory character with a nose ring and dreadlocks offered their daughter some teriyaki chicken on a toothpick outside the China Express. Much to their disbelief and slight chagrin, their finicky daughter gulped it down as though she’d never been fed in her life. She then used her powerful, one-year-old charm to win another sample and scarfed if from the stick twice as fast.

Sick as a Dog

While Clara Grace ate in her high chair on the morning of Tuesday, June twenty-seventh, her mommy noticed that the little girl seemed a bit stuffy and coughed every so often. “Are you okay?” her mommy asked sympathetically. Clara Grace responded in an extremely dejected voice, “No! Not okay not okay!” Her mommy realized actually acting sick during a cold was just one more little sign her baby was growing up all too quickly.

Share

On Saturday June the twenty-fourth, Clara Grace played at the Children’s Discovery Museum with her mommy. She watched enviously as other children raced around with a popping lawn mower. Finally a little boy discarded the coveted toy and she dashed in for her chance. Unfortunately, her triumph was short lived. She got in about three good pops, then decided to lay the lawnmower’s handle down for just one fraction of a second to give her mommy a toy shaker with which she had previously been playing. Another eager child swooped in right under poor Clara Grace’s nose and merrily popped away with the mower. As Clara Grace looked on in amazement and disappointment, her mommy heard her repeating softly an unhappy mantra of “Share, share, share, share.”

Peaceful Protest

By Friday, June the twenty-third, Clara Grace was becoming very good at communicating with words the things she did and did not want. This was a welcome relief to her parents who had often found themselves completely baffled by their daughter’s enthusiastic gestures, grunts, and cries in past months. On that particular evening, Clara Grace’s daddy had finished lathering her up with soap and then directed, “Okay, sit down in the water so I can get the soap off.” “No!” Clara Grace answered defiantly. “Clara Grace,” her daddy repeated in a firmer tone, “sit down.” “No, no,” his daughter whimpered, “Poopy,” she added and pointed out a floating log which obviously held contradictions for her when presented in the same context as cleaning off in the bathwater.

What's Important

On Thursday, June twenty-second, Clara Grace’s mommy set a bowl of oatmeal and a banana on her daughter’s high chair tray and then got busy preparing her own breakfast. With the push of a button, the family coffee machine whirred into action. No doubt, this sound brought to the minds of both mommy and daughter the family’s true coffee aficionado who was away on a four day speaking engagement. “Foffee,” Clara Grace commented as the lights on the machine blinked to life. “You’re right, I’m making coffee.” Her mommy answered. “Yum yum,” Clara Grace remarked then went back to scooping her oatmeal. Later that morning on the phone, Clara Grace’s mommy was sure to relate the influence Clara Grace’s daddy had already had on his one-year-old daughter.

One, Two...Skip a Few...100

On Sunday, June fourth, Clara Grace’s Daddy packed up the luggage from a weekend trip to Gatlinburg with the Whisman family. While he worked, he allowed his little girl to indulge in one of her favorite activities, pretending to drive his big, red car. After a few moments of two much quiet from the front seat though, he decided it would be prudent to investigate. What he found was Clara Grace on the floorboard helping herself to the travel stash of animal crackers. “What are you doing?” he asked rhetorically. “Mamamal crackers,” Clara Grace answered nervously. “I see that,” her daddy sighed, “and how many have you eaten?” he inquired not expecting any answer. “One, two…” his daughter replied.

Rats

On Monday, May the twenty-ninth, Clara Grace’s mommy made conversation with her daughter on the way home from a long trip of errands. “When we get out of the car, do you want to take a bath?” “No,” Clara Grace responded from her car seat. Always enjoying the thrill of outwitting a one year old, and knowing his daughter’s fondness for the word “no,” Clara Grace’s daddy then asked slyly, “Are you sure?” “Without a second’s hesitation, Clara Grace answered definitely, I’m sure.”

Calls it as She Sees It

On Monday, May the fifteenth Clara Grace sat on her Daddy’s lap while her mommy washed dishes across the house. Apparently Clara Grace felt the injustice of a rule being broken as her parents conversed across the space of the living room and over the noise of the running water. “Too loud!” she announced with finality.

So PAY!

On Saturday, May the thirteenth, Clara Grace’s mommy and daddy began to notice a strange form of pig latin creeping into their daughter’s vocabulary. Suddenly, once easily understandable words such as soap, no, and shoe, needed decoding. Thankfully the key was fairly simple; draw out the first part of a one-syllable word, then add “ay” very enthusiastically onto the ending. This created words like, “Soapay, shoeay, noay, noseay.” (Soap, sounds like So-PAY! for example.)