By Bob
March 27, 1998
For more than six years, Bonnie and I helped a single mother raise her two daughters. When the younger girl, Ana, turned two years old, it was time for her to go to the doctor for her two-year checkup. Ana's mom didn't want to take time off from work to take her, so I took Ana to the doctor.
The doctor had me sit Ana on a padded examination table while he conducted the physical part of the exam. Then, he told me that he had several little tests he was going to go through, to determine how well Ana was doing mentally, compared to other two-year olds. He told me that they didn't expect her to be able to know or do everything he asked, because they had intentionally put some things in the tests that would be too hard for a two-year old to do.
The first thing on his list was "What is your name?" Ana immediately replied, "Ana! A-N-A, Ana!" The doctor looked at me, amused that she had spelled her name as well as said it.
The second question was "How old are you?" Ana held up two fingers and replied, "Two!"
This went on for about 8 questions, with Ana giving the correct answer to every question.
Finally, the doctor put a piece of paper on the examination table and took out a large, thick pencil out of his pocket. He read out loud from his sheet, "Hand the child a pencil and ask them if they can use it to make a mark on the piece of paper."
I already knew how that one would turn out. I smiled and handed my little sweetheart the pencil. "Ana, can you make a circle right here on the paper?"
Without hesitating, Ana leaned over and drew a perfect circle on the paper, right where I had pointed, then handed the pencil back to me.
"You have a very bright little girl, here," the doctor said, as he finished marking her test results in his chart.
"I know", I replied, as I picked Ana up and gave her a big hug.