sPeLLiNG

I got to thinking, because I was so bugged by the illiterate 9th graders at Reality Town, about spelling.
I have a file in which I keep (not every) but most little notes and cards that I've received from my kids over the years. I could never have predicted the text message culture 15+ years ago when I started saving these beautiful little hand-written notes. I love and cherish each one and each misspelled word! One of my favorites came in 1997 from Ryan (he was 3 1/2.) I was the Primary President at the time, and was on the phone when he slipped me a little 3x3 piece of paper that said "kiss me" on it. The s's are perfectly backward. I adore it. It reminded me at the time that I needed to do a better job of paying more attention to my kids instead of my calling.
Now my little Grace is writing notes...I just found one from Valentine's Day that says "Your the best mom in the hol wrld!" and "I love you bigr then the wrld!" I have notes with "saree" and "mostlee" and "I wont a snak!"
Yesterday we were doing her spelling words and "ghost" was one of them. She spelled it "goste." I've been drilling into her the silent "e" at the end of words makes the vowel say it name! So, yeah, this is how you SHOULD spell ghost, right?
Anyway. Now she's in 1st Grade, and already I can see the fruits of education blossoming in her writing ability. On her journal page yesterday, she wrote "I had a cookie for lunch." Each word spelled correctly. It's crazy that this makes me a little bit sad?
I can say I'm looking forward to the time when she has a phone like her siblings, and will be texting "I'll c u tomro...luv u!" But of course, I won't be able to save that in my file : )