Growing Up

Practically since her birth, our youngest child, Virginia, has been on the fast track to becoming a teenager. From the time she was a toddler, this girl has been obsessed with clothes, makeup, Hannah Montana, and all of the other things that seem to be precursors to the teenage stage. In fact, although he's been making up ground pretty quickly lately, Virginia seems to be outpacing Wes, her elder brother of five years, in the race towards teenagehood. While Virginia's precociousness and personality provide non-stop entertainment to those of us who reside in the Richardson household, I must say that it is hard watching your baby grow up so quickly.

Two things happened today, however, that reassured me that although Virginia sometimes seems older than her chronological age, she is still a very little girl. First, while discussing what she "wants to be when she grows up" this evening, she proudly said "a doctor, a teacher, an illustrator, or someone who works at the grocery store." I smiled. How great is that?!?

Later, as we were working on her homework, she had to write something about Nairobi, Kenya (she was making it all up, because we've never been there) and, using her phonetic spelling strategies, she wrote the following:

Thes Vare Botufol sun sets tar. Thars a wrile sune sun. The pepul uoos steks with tar uonafams. Thay hav los of Trees Thar.

Translation:

There's very beautiful sunsets there. There's a really sunny sun. The people use sticks with their uniforms. They have lots of trees there.

And there you have it -- Virginia's take on Nairobi, Kenya!

Hopefully, this will make you smile, too.

Erin