On Thursdays Billie and I head to the local shelter to hang with the kids and help out if we can. When we arrived today, however; there were no other kids- just me and two adult advocates. We all decided to hang out and chat while Billie colored and played with play-doh.
Halfway through our conversation Billie walked up and showed us her drawing.
Me: “That’s beautiful! Can you show these ladies how well you can write?”
Billie: “Sure!”
She then writes her name.
Me: “Awesome job! Can you spell ‘pops?'”
She then writes “pops.”
One of the advocates tells her to write “mommy.”
She thinks a moment, then writes the letter “H.”
Me: “You’re absolutely right- My name is ‘Heather’ and starts with an ‘H.’ But she asked you to spell the word ‘Mommy.’ What letter does ‘mommy’ start with? Mmmmm- mmmmm…?”
Billie thinks a moment. Writes one more letter then says, quite definitively, “Nope. THAT’S your name.”
Then she walks away.

Below is what she wrote:

This is what happens when you try to show off your kid’s writing abilities, folks.
I’ve never heard such laughter at my expense.

(P.S. I kid you not there is NO WAY she knew what she was spelling. She just really likes circles and draws them whenever she’s stumped. …Part of me can’t help but wonder, though…)