Our daughter learned to talk early. At sixteen months she told me she did not want to wear a diaper. I had never mentioned the toilet to her, so imagine how surprised I was when she kicked those chubby legs saying, "Pas chouche, pas couche! (No Diaper, no diaper!)" Right then and there Chelsea went commando as we went to the shop to buy some underwear, she never wore a diaper again.
To say she was precocious is to say that I felt like the kid most of the time. Chelsea would say and do things that were way beyond her years, and often before I had a chance to figure out that it was unusual for a child her age to be doing so.
It should have come as no surprise to French Husband and I, that when I was barely pregnant Chelsea said, "My baby brother('s) name is Sacha." I glanced at French Husband and whispered, "She understands?" French Husband wasn't concerned with her knowledge that I was pregnant with a boy, but rather that she already had named him, his eyebrows went down when he asked, "When did you plant that name in her head?"
I moved my head back into my neck, grimaced, and said, "Hey, if I was going to plant a name, Sacha isn't the name I would have planted. Remember I like Jules, Eli, Beau or Elijah…" before I could continue my list, Chelsea offered her two cents, "No, my baby brother name Sacha, not Jules, not Eli.. no." Then she hugged my barely protruding stomach, kissed it and coo-ed,"S-a-c-h-a."
French Husband didn't believe me. "Honestly, I did not know where she got that name, let alone how she put it altogether." I offered in my defense. Though secretly, since Chelsea hadn't picked one of my names, I was glad she hadn't picked one of French Husband's hopeful names for our son.
When I told my family that we were thinking to name our boy Sacha, they laughed thinking it was a joke and a name for a dog.
My Mother in Law came to see us, for the sole reason to change the idea about the name Sacha. When we told her it wasn't our idea but Chelsea's, she shrugged like we were making it up. "Just tell her that she isn't the one to name the baby," my Mother in Law sighed, "You are the parents after all."
But after spending the week with us, my Mother-in-Law left saying, "You must name your baby Sacha, or Chelsea will be devastated. I have never seen a child so determine and steadfast, she talks to that baby as if he is here already!" Then she looked at us demanding, "Who told her that name?" Her eyes darted back and forth at French Husband and I.
We shrugged, and then blamed each other.
Years went by, twenty of them to be exact, and we never knew how Chelsea got the name Sacha in her head… Until one day when I was cleaning out the bookshelf and took out the children's books to put them in a box and take to the garage. Chelsea said, "Oh mom, don't take these away, remember this one…" and before you know it we were cozy on the bed reading their books, recalling memories.
"On Christmas Eve" was in the pile, a favorite, a gift given to Chelsea by family friends when we were in Willows before Sacha was born. On Christmas Eve is a story of a little girl who writes a letter to Santa, and an angel who delivers it to him. The book is one without words, and the reader reads the pictures. Hence, whoever reads the book can read it in their own language.
I read the book a million times, as did French Husband, my Brother Mark, My Mother in Law, and many other French and Americans that year to Chelsea.
Each in his own language.
And there on the corner of the page, stands the little angel with a tiny little piece of paper… I read the story many times but never bothered to read the teeny tiny note, instead I said, "The little angel read the little girl's Christmas List to Santa," then I would ask Chelsea (when she was little), "What would be on your list?"
But on this day I noticed something that I had never noticed before.
In the book, that a million people who loved Chelsea, who had read the story to her in their own language had probably read the teeny tiny letter that said,
"Dear Santa, I would like a a doll house, chocolates, a dog…. Love Sasha."
The name was in the Christmas Book.
The name was planted in Chelsea's heart over and over again, "Love Sasha".
I laughed and laughed, I was so surprised to finally discover the secret of how Chelsea came up with the name for her baby brother when she was only twenty three months old.
Today is Chelsea's twenty seventh birthday.
A Christmas angel who named her baby brother years ago by listening to the Christmas story.
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I know I have asked you before to share the story of how you got your name, and I hope you will re tell your story today in the comment section.
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