Abby's Letters

That's Abigail Alexia Owens ... my five year old daughter.

When we moved into the condo, one of the very first things we did was put magnetic letters on the refrigerator. We figured that it would help Abby to start recognizing letters and encourage her to start reading ... and it has. But there's also been an unexpected development.

Abby has constructed a whole world for these letters. They have each become (or are in the process of becoming) individual characters, and with them she acts out all kinds of extravagant adventures. They sometimes act out things that go on in her own life -- like the episode where the character Sweetie -- who is portrayed by the lower case "k" -- had to confront her dad about throwing away her important things (earlier that day I had thrown away some old, and I thought, unimportant magazines she had stored in the corner of her bedroom). Sometimes the stories are pretty wild and adventurous ... I've often found on the floor letters who have perished in the pursuit of some wild adventure or another.

When I ask Abby to let me in on what transpires in letter world she usually takes exception. Apparently she doesn't know what they're going to do or say until they say it. I've thought about sneaking up on her and recording the whole thing, but it just seemed like an untoward invasion of her privacy (and theirs!). Sweetie and company made an exception to their strict confidentiality policy and allowed me to take this here photograph.

The saga continues even as I type ... and from the sound of things, there will be some dead letters on the kitchen floor this afternoon.

Who knows ... maybe this is how Harper Lee or JK Rowling got started!