I am continuing to play with my ABCs in terms of my experience as a dad. See last week for the first letters of the alphabet.

D is for Dirt, which a child eats before actually pronouncing the name. My son would then droll muddy rivulets down his chin when he laughed. A dirty mouth can refer to what comes out as much as what is put in.

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E is for Egg, which can break on the kitchen floor after rolling off the counter or when thrown from a passing car. Last summer, I awoke to the sight of eggs plastered across the back of our minivan like an abstract painting, and my kids heard a few dirty words. While we all come from the dirt, not all life hatches from an egg, which a human child has to learn. Once, I stepped outside to find my son, the former eater of dirt, squatting on the sidewalk, attempting to piece together a baby blue egg that had fallen from a nest. H is for Hope, “a thing with feathers that perches in the soul” (Emily Dickinson).

F is for Feather, as in the collection that my kids keep in the backyard and bring into the house when I am not looking. Also, many pillows are stuffed with feathers, which they discovered when flying the pillows into each other’s faces. I walked into the bedroom, and it appeared that a flock of birds had undressed in a hurry.

G might be for Godliness, which some say has something to do with cleanliness, but let’s go with Grass, the plant where one might find dirt, egg shells, and feathers, the surface where one first crawls, then toddles, and finally runs across to discover the world outside. Grass is also where I recline to watch my brood and maybe even close my eyes and lift my face toward the sun, resting a bit before I am off to clean up the next mess.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of Little Big Moments, a collection of mini-essays about parenting, and Tigers, Mice & Strawberries: Poems. Both titles are available most anywhere books are sold online. Taylor-Troutman lives in Chapel Hill where he serves as pastor of Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church and occasionally stumbles upon the wondrous while in search of his next cup of coffee.