Jabbering away

Lilah went with Dano, Rob, and me to Royal Oak today to get lunch and mill about. It was a blustery 70 degree day. She wore a new pink dress and pink and green flip flops. She was very excited and kept saying, "New shoes! Pretty new dress!"

We went to Pronto's. Ironically, the food generally takes a minute there. This is all right with Lilah, as there is a bakery up front with displays of all manner of treats in glass cases. She took her shoes off and handed them to me as soon as we got there. "Here, Mama. Do you want it?" When she first started asking this particular question, I would sometimes reply no. No, I did not want that banana peel. No, I did not want that piece of trash. It became rapidly apparent that "No" was not an appropriate answer to the question.
"Do you want it?"
"No thanks."
"...Here. Here you go. Say thank you."
"...Thank you?"
"You're welcome, Mama."

I graciously accepted the shoes and Lilah said, "All done." I let her get down and prance around, as the place was nearly empty. I told her to go to the big window in front and look outside. She instead chose to make a beeline to the table full of cakes in the middle of the room. Dano steered her toward the desserts that were safely housed behind glass. She discussed all the ones she would like to eat with him while Rob and I chatted at the table.
Lilah ate everything placed in front of her. A grilled chicken sandwich, pickle, fries, onion ring, lettuce slice, chip, slice of tomato, bacon, cheese. I told her she could have literally anything she wanted for dessert after seeing her eat a slice of lettuce. She normally shuns all raw vegetables. After we were done there, Rob and I walked Lilah to Coldstone while Dano perused through books at Barnes and Noble. Lilah got a strawberry-banana-mango sorbet with sprinkles. She was feeling particularly lovey today. She kept reaching for my hand. "Wanna hold your hand, Mama." Sometimes she'd just stop and reach her arms up. "Wanna hooold you Mamaaaa!" I never get to hold my baby anymore, so I didn't mind carrying her around Royal Oak.
In Barnes and Noble, she played trains and ate her ice cream. She asked everyone she came into contact with their names, and generally had a good time.
I'm amazed every day at how fun, vocal, and coherent she is for being just barely 2 years old. Nothing extraordinary happened today. It was just a normal day for the family. Time spent having fun with each other and friends. I remarked at lunch, "She looks like a person today. I wish she'd knock it off."