Sophie, Age 3

I just started reading the book "The Spirited Child" and wondered who gave the author permission to write Sophie's biography. It describes "spirited children" as "normal... but more." I was just reading Sophie's journal, remembering that as an infant she would laugh and cry hysterically with no warning and for no understandable reason. Then at 1 year old she used to study my mouth as I talked, craving expression and acquiring signs and words as fast as we could feed them to her. One day at 22 months old, she took my face in her little hands and said: "I want to be an astronomer and look at stars with a telescope." She still laughs hysterically, she still throws tantrums your nervous system will never forget, and she still frequently takes my face in her hands and articulates the yearnings of her soul. Also, she loves ABBA music, mermaids, and nachos, and today she said "I don't like flip flops because they give my foot a wedgie."