"Cake!"

The first blossoms of independence are budding inside the heart of my baby girl.  She’s starting to reach out into the world, take hold with both hands…and shove it in her face. 

Today, after a nice jaunt around the zoo to visit Anna’s favorite large, long-necked cats (formerly known as giraffes), we headed down with Terry and a friend to the Broadmoor for lunch.  Always charming, Anna won the heart of our innocent waiter and to prove his love, her brought her an extra special dessert- a large scoop of vanilla ice cream.  As he set this treat down in front of her, Anna cooed with delight and said, very clearly, “Cake!”.

I tried to spoon it into her mouth, but she would have none of it. Anna decided that she didn’t need any old spoon, instead simply reaching out to squeeze little bits of ice cream between her fingers and then rubbing her sticky hands in the vicinity of her mouth.  Within two minutes she was a vanilla coated disaster, but she was a HAPPY disaster.

Needless to say, our waiter confessed his undying fidelity at this sight, his eyes shining with little stars of adoration as he watched the ice cream drip off the tip of her nose and into a puddle on her lap. Sadly, I think Anna was just using him and has no intention of ever calling.  I hope he’s not too hurt and learns to be more cautious with his heart. 

Anna has learned from this experience as well. She’s been saying “Cake” all day and looking around hopefully for another gullible waiter.