The other day, Liberty, Mercy and I were at the chiropractor's office. Dr. C has become a friend, and the girls just love to visit with him. He took note of Mercy's purple, polka-dotted baby doll top, sparkly jeans and crisp white hair bow, and he told her, "Mercy, you look so pretty today."

Now, I've taught my girls to say "Thank you," when someone says something nice about them, but Mercy just looked earnestly into his face and said matter of factly, "Yep." Then she nodded to reaffirm his assessment of her looks.

Dr. C and I both laughed, "Nothing like an extra dose of self-esteem, huh?" he said jokingly.

A little bit later, Dr. C told Liberty, "Oh, Liberty, that huge diamond on your shirt is so sparkly!" Liberty nodded and pointed to her hair bow, "And look at this, Dr. C!" she encouraged him. "It is so pretty, too!"

"Yeah, you missed a compliment, there, Dr. C," I muttered facetiously for only him to hear. We laughed again and started talking about how hard it is for some people accept compliments. He pointed out that most adults, when complimented, instead of graciously accepting it with a thank you, try to put themselves down. Apparently, that is one of his pet peeves because he continued talking about it while he worked on my spine.

A few minutes later, we were discussing another subject when Liberty asked Dr. C a technical question about one of the machines nearby. He answered her and then said to me, "She's going to be an engineer like her daddy when she grows up."

"No, I don't think so. That's Mercy."

"Why do you say that?" he wanted to know.

"Because Mercy's brain works like her daddy's, and Liberty's definitely works like mine."

"Ah, then Liberty's going to be an incredible mommy when she grows up," he complimented me.

But I didn't recognize the compliment - my mind was still focused on what Liberty might grow up to be. I could see her being a good mommy, so I nodded, "Yeah, you're right."

He cracked up laughing and when he could breathe again, said, "Now I see how your girls learned to accept compliments!"