Me-Ow!*

Julie was just reading the plainly titled First Words (from the Bright Baby series) to Clara. This is a book that consists of just words and pictures, though Julie tries to jazz it up a bit by adding in fun facts like so: "This is an orange! Its color is also orange! And this is also a kind of fruit! An apple! This one is green, but usually, they are red!"** For animal pictures, frequently, Julie will include the sound it makes. As a sidebar, we would note that Clara seems to be hazy on the ubiquitous cow and the always fun to do "Moo!" But she is an absolute fan of a sheep and a "Baa!" Tonight, when the Birds reached cat, Clara cried out, "MEOW!"

*In the interest of historical accuracy, we would note that this picture was taken last week, but it is apropos for tonight's post. Look at all of Birdie's hair! As Ted commented, "It's gonna get awkward soon." Beause she's going to enter that unfortunate mullet stage which lasts so much longer for girls than boys.

**As a sidebar, why did the editors choose a Granny Smith apple? When most apples are, in fact, red? Some parents and longtime readers will recall that Julie has noted here her frustration with the editors of this series for confusingly, to Julie's way of thinking, putting a picture of a baby cow (a calf) in and calling it a calf. Really? Does any child from the under two set (or even beyond) understand the nuances between a calf and a cow? But naturally, the editors chose a Granny Smith apple as the exemplar of apple. Because the same bunch puts a "calf" in instead of a cow. MOO!