my name is...

The first word Marisa ever wrote on her own was "Tim". It was at church one day, a long while ago, and Marisa said, "Look, Dad!"
Both of our eyes went wide open in amazement.
We had never even taught her how to write, let alone Tim's name.
Same with the alphabet when she was just a year old. I never sat down and said, "This is A. This is B." I just read alphabet books to her all the time and that is it really. Then again, one day she suddenly just started pointing at the keys on Tim's computer and saying all the letters down the rows.
Again, Tim and I were both stunned.

Now with her name, I taught her how to write her name. We obviously taught her what her last name was, but never taught her how to write it. Until one day, sometime in the beginning of this year, she says, "Look, Mom! My name. Marisa Hart."

And this is what she wrote...

She has been writing her name this way ever since. I think it is so darling and clever that she sounded out her last name and came up with this way of spelling it out.

Yesterday after Primary at church as I was looking at her drawing from her class I flipped over the picture to find her name (the above picture) on the back of her artwork. I just smiled and remembered that I have forgotton to document it when she first did it. So now I am.