Ella and the Bee

I'm not trying to toot my own horn or anything, but I'm a good speller. Writing and reading were some of my favorite subjects in school and I loved to participate in our school's spelling bees. I actually made it to Dallas, Texas in the regional spelling bee when I was nine years old but quickly realized I was a bit out of place when I looked around and saw other kids sitting there with open dictionaries on their laps. {Dorks} I was the first one out at that bee (someone had to do it, right?) and thus ended my spelling bee days.

Until now. I've decided that perhaps those years haven't been in vain after all because as it turns out, we're living with a 3-foot tall, brown-eyed myna bird. I've already talked of having to censor myself and certain music in the car. No more wordy-dirds coming from momma (at least I try not to). But it's not even the four letter slip-ups that I'm censoring these days. It's mentioning going to the pool, or the beach, or that maybe we'll bake cupcakes later. Or that we're going to Target. Or (directed at Jake) are there any "c-o-o-k-i-e-s" left in the pantry? Have you seen her "b-i-n-k-y?" "Should she have "m-i-l-k" or water?"

I realized that we've got ourselves into a bit of a spelling rut when, the other day, Jake hollered to me from the kitchen, "hey babe, I can't find the "c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e...c-h-i-p-s (we keep a bag around for baking...or, well, eating by the handful, basically). But by the time he got to the end of the word "chocolate" and took a breath to keep spelling, I was already lost. It was almost 10 pm and my brain was fried. And you better believe Ella's on to us about it. She may not know what, exactly, we're trying to spell just yet- but she knows it's code for something we don't want her to know about. According to my mom and dad, we had a cat named "G-O-K" when I was three or four. Apparently, I named him that because I had heard my parents spell "C-A-T" a few too many times. As in, "do you think we should let the 'c-a-t' in tonight?" (He was a bit of a rogue, kinda wandered around and didn't technically belong to us, but we fed him and brought him in, especially when the weather was bad). So I decided that I could spell too. One night at dinner, I casually asked if we were going to let the "G-O-K" in after we finished eating. After that, he was always lovingly referred to as "G-O-K Kitty." And my parents- like us- realized the futility in spelling more than half of the words in our conversations because kids learn to make inferences awfully early in life.

That being said, I wouldn't be at all surprised if the first words Ella learns to spell are in some way related to chocolate or cookies or bubbles.