Susan Senator

Did it start way back when his little big said, “Into Mischief?” Is it a self-fulfilling prophecy? This was one of the first phrases Nat learned: “Mischief!” he would say with a devilish grin.

Then there was the time when he was learning to spell. He would say, “O-R-A-N-G-E spells ‘orange!'” and things like that. So one day, he was in a different aisle of the hardware store from Max and me. We could hear him spelling with a frenzy. Suddenly we heard: “P-F-G-A-W-V-I-X-S-O-N spells: BM!”

Then, recently there was the “ready, set, go!” that Nat did in gym a few weeks ago, where he tricked a classmate into going before the gym teacher said, “Go.”

And today: Nat had to put his shoes back on, after the nurse had checked his infected blister. Nat’s teacher bent down to tie the laces, asking, “Do you want me to tie your shoes? Can you tie them yourself?”

Nat answered, “No tie your shoes.”

Terese began to tie them for him, thinking he meant that he could not tie them. He then moved his foot away and tied his shoe himself.

Terese said, laughing, “Nat, you lied to me! You said you couldn’t tie your shoes!”

Nat just smiled that mischievous grin. And a Class Clown is born. Or always was.