E wanted to snuggle so she was nestled right up against my backside. Every time I neared sleep again, she would talk.
Mama! Look! I’m whispering because we didn’t wake up yet! she stage whispered.
Mama, when we wake up, is it school today?
And my favorite: Mama! Let’s sleep! as she snuggled in impossibly closer to my spinal column, making her favorite faux-sleeping noises. Mmmm, sleep…Mmm, we’re sleeping, Mama!...Mmmm, good night, sweet dreams….
By the time she finally was settled and quiet: I was awake. Downstairs, we could faintly hear her father opening cabinets and drawers, maybe reaching into the dishwasher, maybe grabbing a cutting board from the rack. He was making everybody’s lunch for the day. Much closer, I heard a loud rumble. E’s stomach was growing. Hesitant to break the chatterless air, I quietly asked, “sweetie, are you hungry?” And so excited for the invitation to resume speech, E yelled enthusiastically, YES! I asked her if she wanted to get some food and she yelled APPLESAUCE!
She clamored out of bed and away from me so quickly that my body weight shifted, eliciting an indignant squawk from the temporarily deprived younger member of the Desperately Hungry Duo. The First Desperado ran down the stairs and I heard her eagerly engage her father with her one-and-only sound effect: equally useful for imitation motorcycle navigation and exaggerated starvation.
Daddy!! Mama said I can have food because she heard my belly say BBBBRRRRRRR! So can I have applesauce?
