Spelling Lessons

When we lived in Florida, Annette agreed to babysit the children (Paul and Kate) of our friends Marianne and Dennis Cutchins each spring while Marianne worked as a legislative assistant during the Florida Legislature session. Paul was one year older than Jamie and Kate was the same age as Tanner.

In the spring of 1996, Jamie had been learning how to write words. In particular, she liked to write the names of each member of our family. One day, Jamie and Paul were drawing and coloring at the kitchen table. They started writing words that they knew how to write. As they wrote each word, they would tell each other the word and how it was spelled.

Jamie was writing my name and spelled out D ... A ... D. Paul exclaimed, "Your dad spells his name D ... A ... D? My dad spells his name D ... A ... D!"

They were both so amazed that their dads spelled their names exactly the same.

l to r, Kate, Jamie, Paul, Tanner
playing with friends

l to r, Tanner, Jamie, Paul
helping Mom cook

l to r, Tanner, Jamie, Kate, Paul
playing with blocks