This and That

The other day, Alice and I went to Home Depot to pick up some shelving supplies. It was getting close to lunchtime as I was loading her back into the car to head home. I was just about to click her into the car seat when I heard her voice, quiet but clear as day: "Hot. Dog?"

I was surprised because the only time she had ever had a hot dog before that was a few months earlier when, after another marathon Home Depot session, we gave into our rumbling stomachs and split a hot dog from the cart in the parking lot. Yup, our Home Depot has a hot dog cart in the parking lot. And we ate food from it. Perched on a wall overlooking a sea of cars.

Anyways, I guess the hot dog made an impression to be remembered and specifically requested so many weeks later. And since she asked so nicely, I had to oblige. This time I bought two dogs. One for Alice and one for me. We both finished, and I was getting ready to head out when she turned her little face towards me, looked at me with those blue eyes and asked, "More? Hot. Dog?"

The dude (and he was definitely a dude) working the cart was impressed when I said that my one-and-a-half-year-old had requested round two, but he was blown away to see her dispense entirely with the bun and devour a good 3/4 of the second dog before deciding that she was done.

I guess she just had a craving.

I'm not sure how, but Alice has mixed up her understanding of the word "smile". Whenever we ask her to give us a big smile, she eagerly and dramatically blinks her eyes I Dream of Jeannie style (as below). We're hoping she never figures out her mistake, because the blinks crack us up every time.

We've also taught her how to say "I love you." It comes out more like "I LUB dee!" and it's delightful.  I guess we've been saying it a lot, because now, when I say something open-ended like "Hey, Alice, guess what?" or "You know what, Alice?", she responds with an enthusiastic "I LUB dee!". 

Alice got a few different alphabet letters and numbers gifts for Christmas, and she is entranced.  Now, when we take walks she strongly suggests that we pull the stroller over at each sign so I can point to each letter or number and tell her what it is. I like the enthusiasm, but it sure does make it difficult to get anywhere in a hurry.

Until the snow earlier this week, the weather had been gorgeous and we'd been spending a lot of time outdoors. Banging on drums and stuff.

 

Indoors, Alice has found a purpose for those niches on our staircase landing that we just didn't know what to do with. They're the perfect size for a little girl to sneak into. So much livelier decor than a potted plant or vase.