The day Queen Teen announced she likes katsup

It's been a good week for Queen Teen. She got her hearing aids back last Monday and although they seem to bother the inside of her ears, she seems happy to have them again. Her teachers have reported that she's engaged and eager at school and even took part in a school wide, jump-rope fund raiser by rolling her wheelchair over the rope on her own several times. At home she's been joking with me and Rick again, playing with the dog and laughing more. Must be good to hear again.

One day as we were eating hot-dogs for dinner, she looked at my plate and said, "You know, I'm older now. I might like katsup."

Queen Teen has eaten her hot-dogs with butter since she was old enough to eat a hot-dog. Anytime we've tried giving her katsup or mayo she's spit her food out and yelled at us for giving her anything so "yucky." So I was surprised when she announced she might like it.

"Do you want to try some?" I asked.

She nodded.

Picking up a piece of her hot dog bun, I dipped it into some of my katsup and then popped it into her mouth. She closed her lips tightly and looked at me wide eyed. Would she spit it out?

After a moment, she chewed the bread and swallowed it, then announced, "I like it. Can I have more?"

I fed her bits of bread dipped in katsup and she gobbled each like she'd just discovered the most fascinating taste in the world. "Katsup is good. I like it now. I must be growing up."

She repeated this over and over for several minutes, right up until she climbed into the tub. "I'm growing up. Katsup tastes good. That must mean I'm growing up."

If she knew a song about katsup, she would've been singing it.