Happy Soap

Or, "How Reading Lessons Proceed at Our House."

Yesterday during bathtime, Ramona pondered the baby soap bottle. She looked at me and said, "Happy Soap."

I glanced at the bottle and said, "Oh, well, yes, I guess it is happy. The teddy bear on the label looks pretty happy, doesn't he?"

She said, "No." And, pointing to the words on the label, she said, "Ha-a-a-ppy. Right?"

I looked at it. Hypoallergenic, it said.

"Oh! Yes!" I said to Ramona, excited to see what was at play. "I can see why you thought that word was 'happy.' Look -- here's the h and an a and there's a p and a y. Those letters are all in 'happy', which is h-a-p-p-y. Happy."

She beamed.

Happily.