Long ago in a land far away, my brother used to take naps.
Yours (if you had one) probably did the same thing when he was two.

Sam would take forever to go to sleep.   At least, for two impatient, older sisters that were allowed to have a snack as soon as he drifted off, it seemed like forever.  He’d play with his toys.  He’d play with his toes.  He would do anything other than drift off to dreamland.

At one point, one of our favorite snacks was a small bowl of chocolate chips.   Not wanting to waste time, we started asking Mom, many times within earshot of our supposed-to-be-sleeping sibling,  “May we have some c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e c-h-i-p-s later?”

                 Photo: FreeImages.com

For a little while, Mr. Stubborn Nap Taker didn’t know what c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e c-h-i-p-s meant, and we got away with our little spelling trick.  There came a time, however, when we must have gotten too impatient for our own good.   We brought out the chocolate when a certain somebody had closed his eyes and fooled us into thinking he was actually sleeping, when actually he wasn’t.

Two chocolate-brown eyes popped open.    (Unfortunately for us, Sam napped in the living room with a pretty decent view of the kitchen.)  He stood up.   His eyes got bigger.  And, then, very unsurprisingly, he declared HE wanted some TOO.  Of course he did.

While I cannot clearly remember whether he got any that time or not, I do remember what happened one of the very next nap times.  As usual, we started in with, “Mom, may we have some c-h-o-c-o-…” only this time we were interrupted by a very adamant little voice, “Chocolate chips!  Me too!”

We always tease Sam that chocolate is the very first word he learned how to spell!

Photo: FreeImages.com