My Favorite Weed

Had to return to weeds. Sorry, it was bugging the 'Monk' side of me. I've got one weed that is growing very fast. It seems to always be in bloom. Yes, OK, you got me. It's my daughter. She's such a gem. She's just turned three and I've gotten to witness

some stuff that's just neato. Usually my wife gets the honor of seeing all the funny stuff, first times, etc.. A few nights ago during dinner we had some cantaloupe pieces that we were holding onto as a treat if she finished the apparently less desirable dinner. There were six pieces left, and while trying to endure the wait for her to finish her dinner, I ate one. She knew there were six, and she made the statement that now there were only five pieces left! So I pretended to eat each of the other pieces over the next few minutes and sat amazed as she correctly subtracted the pieces I 'ate' from the total that remained! Cool. I may be biased, but I'm sure most would agree she's a smart cookie to be doing this at 3. So we practiced subtraction (and addition as I returned the uneaten pieces) and she did very well as we introduced her to the concepts of minus and plus. Two nights ago she made sandwiches for the first time - very nearly by herself. I was hungry and asked if she'd like to make me a peanut butter & honey sandwich. Her eyes lit up and she said, "Sure!" -- and off she went and started collecting what she needed. Of course I had to help her get some stuff like bread off the top shelf of the fridge, but once she was all set up she smeared PB on about 1/4 of one slice of bread, a puddle of honey on the other, slapped 'em together and pre-masticulated the sandwich with a (plastic) knife in her attempt to cut it into 4 pieces for me, like we do for her. It was soooo cute. We made three sandwiches together and shared them all. Really, although she grows like a weed, she isn't one at all. She's a wonderful flower in our garden, a plant in the right place at the right time.