Can you spell?

A few Saurdays ago, I got to be head baby sitter of Bug for a few hours whilst her mother, Bird, ran some errands and cs went to judge a piano competition of future Liberaces. I was lying on my bed looking something up on the computer when Bird informed me that she was leaving.

As Bug was clinging to her leg, Bird asked me, Do you want me to get the B-A-B-Y S-I-G-N-I-N-G V-I-D-E-O?

What? says I. (Spelling is not my strong suit.)

She starts spelling it out again.

Wait, wait a minute. What is going on here? This kid is too young to start spelling words out around her. Just go ahead and say it. It’s longer than three letters and I can’t figure it out myself.

So she blurts out, Do you want me to get the Baby Signing Time Video?

Before you can say, Jack Sprat, c8 lets go of her mother’s leg, zooms over and starts climbing up the side of the bed to try and get a seat next to the computer. Can you spell P-a-v-l-o-v-’s d-o-g? (Thanks, Lucy Sr.)

Needless to say, my next 30-40 minutes were occupied with, Baby, baby it’s baby signing time.…can you say, more, more, more? Well, maybe not, but this kid can sign it!

Later that afternoon, I was in the living room and c8 was playing nearby. I sat down in the lounge chair and picked up cs’ laptop. Without hesitation, c8 comes scrambling over, climbs on the box next to the chair, scoots over the chair arm and plops down next to me and starts starring at the computer screen. This is the signal that it’s time to watch Boowa & Kwala — a cartoon series of adventures with song and dance that we have eternally memorized within our collective brains. But apparently not quite memorized because we get to watch them over and over and over and over…