My kid, man.

She’s the most interesting kid right now. She can’t spell to save her life, and this makes second grade homework time extra long for the two of us. Every week she has to read a leveled book and then do an activity regarding said book. Every once in a while, it’s a retelling of the book. Do you have any idea how long it takes to write a retelling of the story of Puss in Boots when you are seven and can’t spell? Hint: It takes a long time. Too long, in fact.

What she lacks in the good-spelling gene (it’s a thing, I swear. Ask my mom—she sings my spelling bee praises for miles, in a very Claire Dunphy sort of way.), however, she makes up for in just about every other way, especially in creativity.

Take, for example, exhibit A: “My fall from the monkey bars, a re-enactment.”

Take, for example, exhibit B: The Sea, a project without an assignment.

My child likes to RESEARCH, just for fun.

She researched fish—all on her very own. And then she wrote a report (poorly spelled, of course—I am fairly certain that nozi’s is supposed to say NOSES.) and then drew an entire under-the-sea adventure. This is what she does on weekend mornings when she wakes up before anyone else. She sits on the floor in my room, surrounded by a mountain of markers, crayons, papers, and glue sticks, and just goes to town, happily. She has finished The Sea and is now hard at work on her next unassigned project—the desert (You should see…she draws a super-mean vulture.)

I suppose this means I probably don’t really need to worry about her spelling.

I mean, that’s what spell check was invented for, right?