The Apple and the Tree ...

She's smart ... She's sassy ... and she's cute as a button ...

And though she can make us ALL crazy by her incessant chattering ... and her fiery temper, I love and adore her and her siblings ...

It is often said of children that "the apple didn't fall far from the tree ..."

This morning I realized that in Beetle's case, in many ways the apple fell straight down:

I was lying in bed enjoying the early morning sunshine dancing through the slats of our blinds just thinking ... I could hear Beetle stirring down the hall ... no doubt looking for her pink fuzzy pig that shares her bed each night ... a piggy quite aptly, and boringly named: Piggie.

I thought to myself - "With all the names in the world, why does she have to name her stuffed creatures by what they are?" Her stuffed pig is Piggie. Her pink poodle is Pinky. Her stuffed bear is Bear. Her stuffed Giraffe is Giraffie ... and so it goes ...

Then I realized ... when I was 7 my favourite toys were a beanbag frog named - well, He was grandly named Froggie. Then there was a much loved, very battered, and occasionally reconstructed stuffed Monkey named - Monkey, a tiny blue stuffed rabbit made by my grandmother named Bunny and his tiny little bear friends, also made by Grandma who were named: Bear One and Bear Two ...

"Damned," I thought with a laugh as I recalled my childhood ... I guess I can't criticize her lack of creativity around naming the stuffed creatures in her life ... she may come by it honestly ... and then I realized that it doesn't affect how much she loves them, nor how much we love her ...