Another Dispatch From The Aunthill*

Not yet three years old and not quite three feet tall, Seventh Niece is nevertheless a font of wisdom. This past Sunday evening, she offered her unique take on living in the moment.

The past few weeks, we have had a ritual of counting her markers as she lays them in a big yellow plate. The first week we did it, we discovered there were two markers missing from her set. This prompted her to begin singing a song, the lyrics of which consisted entirely of "Two missing on the plate!" After three or four rousing rounds of that, she would say, "Sing with me!" And then we would both be singing, "Two missing on the plate!" until she got distracted and started a different game.

This week, there were no markers missing since Hubby found them under furniture while rearranging the living room (he has chronic rearranging disorder, but that's a post for another day), so the song was "None missing on the plate!"

After fifteen minutes of counting and singing along, I realized it was getting close to the time when Baby Brother would be there to pick her up, so I said, "Honey, it's time to get your shoes and socks on because Daddy will be here soon."

She said, "Soon is not yet."

She's a pint-sized oracle, I'm tellin' ya.

*Other declarations from the itty-bitty oracle can be found here and here.