Snapshots in Words

I have so many precious memories of the cute things my children have said and done, so I thought I'd share some with you. Becca, our firstborn, is a Valentine's baby. What a perfect gift. She is the first grandchild on both sides of the family and my grandfather's first great grandchild. From the time that Becca was six weeks old, we traveled to Yale New Haven Hospital with her in tow to visit my mother-in-law, who was ill with cancer. All the nurses on the floor loved her, as did her Grandma Aldrich! Becca could make her smile when nothing else could! Once when my mother-in- law was at home and sick in bed, we came to visit. Grandma Aldrich heard Becca cry and insisted on getting out of bed just to see "her" baby! She passed away when Becca was only three months old, but she did plenty of spoiling while she was living. She would be proud of Becca today. My Grandpa Stoddard also enjoyed his great-granddaughter, though he did not say much. After his passing when Becca was six months old', I learned that every time he and my parents and sisters came to visit us, he talked about Becca all the way home!
Becca learned to talk early and quickly developed a good vocabulary. When she didn't know the word for something, she would make up a descriptive term based on words she already knew. She called popsicles "cold lollipops," and moths were "butterfly-bees". Colored leaves and flowers she picked up on our walks were "pretties". She was quite picturesque in her descriptions. My favorite was her take on a sunset. We were driving home from a day of errands and she said,"Look! They painted the sky!" I said, "Yes, Becca, God painted the sky. That's a sunset." After that, she would say, "God painted the sky" every time she saw a sunset.