Fancy Drinks

I rush into the kitchen carrying my shoes and socks and join Christine, Caroline, and Lizzy at the table. Lizzy has not made much progress on her breakfast since I left 20 minutes earlier to take a shower. Christine is pouring Caroline's breakfast into her tube. "Let's have family devotional in here," I suggest, pulling on my socks. "I've got to leave. Lizzy will you choose a song?"

"Um, guys? Guys?" Lizzy says, "I've got to tell you something."

I take a breath and say, "OK, but it's got to be fast." I am not as patient as I should be with Lizzy's speed these days. Always something else to tell us or show us, always some reason she can't do this or that just yet.

Lizzy grabs the plastic Fazoli's cup (saved from a one-time kids meal) with the pink straw and moves it around her bowl so I can see inside. "This cup is for fancy drinks," she announces.

I peer down into the cup and see four or five Grape Nut Os floating in about an inch of milk. I smile and share my observation with Christine.

"I put some orange juice in it too," says Lizzy.

She may not be terribly quick, but she is creative.

We sing Lizzy's song of choice ("I Am like a Star") and Lizzy takes a sip of her fancy drink. "Ugh," she says with a grimace. Another sip. "Yuck." So much for fancy drinks.

But Lizzy is not deterred. After we read our three verses in the Book of Mormon, we make our way to the living room for prayer. On the way, she tries to convince Christine she should have some of Lizzy's fancy drink—with about the same zeal that she goes after my chocolate aversion. As we're kneeling down, Lizzy tries one more argument: "It's really yummy," she says, and Christine and I lose it, delaying the prayer with uncontrollable laughter.

Funny kid.