Gracie

Tonight as my kids and I got ready to play UNO at the kitchen table, my 6 year old, Grace decided she was going to fix a snack using the biscuits I had baked earlier (for fresh strawberry shortcake, mmmm!...but I always use homemade biscuits instead of shortcake). When she was done, she asked me if I would put the jars of jam away because her hands were all sticky. I told her that part of volunteering to make a snack (that neither my 14 year old, Nathan, nor I wanted since we'd just had the strawberry shortcake an hour earlier; but hey, she's 6 and it's our "Silly Saturday", so we suck it up) included cleaning up after yourself. She was already in the process of washing her hands as I spoke, so her response was, "Well, my hands are all wet. I don't want the jars to slip."

"Dry your hands then!" Nathan and I replied quite reasonably and in unison. So she did. She can't help herself, really. She's a natural born debater; once she has an idea in her head she must prove her point to anyone who will listen. She's been that way since she could speak. But she wants to do the right thing...she just wants everyone else to see that her way is the right way.

She quickly wiped her hands on the dish towel and grabbed the two small jars of jam. Meanwhile, Nathan had turned on some U2 for our listening pleasure during our card game. Out of nowhere, it was like the boogie-fever spirits took over Gracie's little body: her hips and head swung from side to side, her legs bounced up and down as she bebopped her way to the frige, she called out in a helpless tone, "But he's got music on, and I always want to dance to the music!"

She would make a great lawyer. A very happy lawyer. When I put her to bed tonight, she was smiling and smiling while lying in bed waiting for me to tuck her in. She informed me, "I'm having a smiling contest with my flower." She has a little pink and yellow stuffed flower hanging upsidedown with its smiling face looking right at her as she rests her head on her pillow each night.

I got into the bed next to her to smile up at the flower, too, "Well. This is a fun contest."

She replied through her teeth, "Yeah, I think she's going to win."

I get to be with her everyday to witness her antics and hear her dialogue first-hand. I'd say I'm pretty lucky.