We surprised Chloe this evening and pulled into the parking lot of a Verizon store.  She suspected we were just going to look at cellphones again so that she could choose one to buy at the end of school next month.  But following some exceptionally good behavior recently, we decided to advance the date of her graduation-from-elementary-school present.

The look on her face was priceless.  Her grin was a mile wide when she realized what we were doing.  And she literally skipped around the store.  I haven’t ever seen her so excited about something that we adults take so for granted.  It was a joy to see.

Chloe inaugurated the phone by calling her Grammy and pretending to be an insurance salesperson.  The ruse worked.  Grammy didn’t recognize the phone number or her granddaughter’s voice, and thought it was a prank.  Chloe tried calling her house another four times.  But Grammy refused to answer the phone again.  Until I called using my cell phone and commanded her to answer the phone the next time it rang, regardless of the number on the caller ID.

“It’s me, Grammy!” Chloe exclaimed, with unbridled exuberance.

Another milestone for our big girl.