Peggy sat alone at the computer. The rest of us were out in the dining room, eating lunch. She called with notable excitement, “Daddy, come see. I’ve spelled ‘LOAD.’ Come see it, Daddy.” Because of her excitement, I left the table, witnessed her achievement (it was, in fact, the first time she correctly spelled a word and knew it to be so) and congratulated her. Obviously proud of herself, Peggy responded, “I think I’m grown up.”

To help put this in its proper perspective, I note that on the same day, for the first time, Peggy was able to insert her own little toilet adapter onto the adult toilet and, using a stool, climb on and off the toilet by herself. She was proud of herself for both reasons, but SHE remarked on the first as evidence of being grown up.