Kayla's Little Brother

Last night, George was giving Kayla a bath. She was playing with the foam bath letters (the kind that stick on the tile when wet). Suddenly, she declared,

"I have a little brother. His name Navy."

George was a little taken aback. Navy? Like on Mommy's shirt?¹

Yeah, Kayla said, Navy, like Mommy shirt.

Really. Now George was really amused. Where is he?

Under my leg, Kayla answered, referring to a foam letter she was sitting on.

They finished their bath like normal, but before Kayla climbed out of the tub, she insisted on putting the foam letter inside a washcloth, wrapping it up and placing it inside a plastic bowl we use to rinse out the girls' hair.

Shhhhh, she told George. Be quiet.  Navy sleeping.

After she climbed out of the tub, George tried to wring out the washcloth so it wouldn't get all stinky, but Kayla yelled, Noooo!  Don't squeeze Navy, Daddy!  Don't squeeze!!

They brushed their teeth and then I heard George say to Kayla, Okay, go tell Mommy.

Kayla toddle-ran down the hallway into her room, where I was getting Jocelyn dressed in her pajamas.  Kayla stopped in front of me and announced, Mommy, I have little brother name Navy.²

There you have it.  If Kayla ever gets a little brother, he shall be named Navy Bauer Huang (yes, after Jack Bauer, but that's all George's idea).  I'll go along with the name, but only because I know it'll never happen. ;-)


¹ Why Navy, you ask?  Well, George has a gray t-shirt that says MICHIGAN printed in blue.  Kayla will often point to the shirt whenever he's wearing it and ask George, "What's that say?"  He says, "Michigan! Go Blue!"³  I recently found an old t-shirt that is also gray and says NAVY in blue in the exact same font (this was purchased on a college trip to the Naval Academy).  The first time I wore it, Kayla pointed to it and asked me, "Mommy shirt say Michigan?" and I had to tell her, "No, it says Navy. Can you say Navy?"  Which she repeated with gusto.

² George never actually saw which foam letter it was.  I had to go in to the bathroom to unwrap Navy and discovered he was the letter "I."


³  The other day, Kayla pointed to George's Michigan shirt and said, "Daddy, your shirt say 'hi'!"  Which it does.  Right smack in the middle of MICHIGAN.  I like to think that she's a bright one.