In her short life, Ava has exhibited quite a bit of initiative. She surveys a given situation, sizes it up and quickly responds with what she believes to be the appropriate action. Of course, this has resulted in stuffed animals swathed in Auquafor, gift clothes robbed of their shopping tags, pedestal sink smothered in “cleaning” bubbles, and countless other spills and experiments. What she lacks in wisdom, she makes up for in zeal.

This afternoon Grandma Penny picked Ava and me up from ballet to take us to Grandpa Great’s surprise birthday party. As we were driving along, Ava began a detailed description of the card that she made for Grandpa Great. “It says, ‘Happy Birthday Grandpa Great’ and I glued it and I colored it and I mailed it.”

“You what?” I responded as I doubled-checked my purse.

“I mailed it. ‘Cause the mail lady is going to give it to him so he feels better, ’cause he’ll like my card.”

That’s right. She took her card out of my bag (because really why would you put a card in a bag) and marched down to the mailbox and reached up and dropped it in. Granted our mailbox is attached to our front door, so she was able to “mail” it from the safety of our home.

Since we were already en route to meet Grandpa Great, we did in fact get there before the card. While Ava arrived at the party empty-handed, she quickly made up for it with hugs and kisses.

Perhaps a card of hugs is better than a handmade card after all!

Either way, we will be sure to properly mail Grandpa Great’s card right after a lesson on addresses and stamps.