her highness
The experience was a positive one for her: never before had she realized that if you simply dress up, go house to house and say “trickortreat” (all one word) that random strangers will happily give you candy, and make a fuss besides.
As for us: Use of the phrase “trick or treat” is now forbidden. Uttering it causes Sofia to go find said costume and ask to go outside.
The week after she got over her first cold, it was as if deadbolt holding all words she had been storing in that little brain had finally been let loose. Soon after waking up one morning about two weeks ago, she saw that the birds outside her window had left and said “Birdie go bye-bye.” A few days later, she was outside with me as I was finishing up some yard work and she told her mama, “Dadda raking.” The new words haven't stopped yet.
The road to the shopping paradise that is Route 44 in Avon takes us past the Conn. Governor’s Horse Guards and Sofia likes to see the horses. “Neigh” she says as we pass the horses. I’m sure it annoys the drivers behind us as we slow down to see these lovely animals …. too bad. (The first couple of times, she said "moo." Cute.)
Anyway, last week on our way to get our Thanksgiving turkey, we passed the farm, except it was dark. “The horsies are sleeping,” I told her. On the way back, I repeated this … and she started to shush the horses to sleep. “Shhhh. Shhhh.”
Thanksgiving came and she shoed the breadth of her food vocabulary, sing the words turkey, pie, chocolate and, most tellingly, “no.” At one point one of the grandparents had the brainstorm that she might like food if it had chocolate on it, and so dipped a piece of turkey in chocolate… to which she said “no way.”
