Spelling Bee

Kaley is spelling words now. She sounds things out every chance she gets. To help keep her interest piqued, Randy and I started staging spelling contests. One evening, after dinner, I gave each of my daughters a word to spell followed by a goldfish cracker for each correct answer. They did extremely well.

The next night, Randy brought home gummy bears. These were a source of intense excitement, and all through dinner both Keira and Kaley were begging for another spelling contest. Again, they aced the words.

Tonight, when dinner was finished, Kaley requested another spelling contest, but we were all stuffed from dinner and didn't want to overdo it. Before I could suggest rescheduling it to tomorrow, she decided that we should have the contest with imaginary gummy bears. She took over the hosting duties and began asking each of us to spell words. Every time we spelled them correctly, she rewarded us with an invisible treat. Randy exchanged one for a more favorable flavor once, but other than that, they were delicious.

On the second time around the table, she added a twist. Each correct answer merited both an imaginary gummy bear and a swig from our drinks. The next round came to one gummy bear and two swigs. The only misspelled word came from Randy, whose answer of "D-A-D-D-I-E" earned him a scolding from the 3-year-old.

What I want to know is this: why is my tiny little daughter creating drinking games?