"-best, with the lowest price! Ha-" click

"Moooom! Mommy! C'mon!"

"Well, good morning, beautiful! Whatcha lookin' at?"

"Dat?"

"This? It's Mister Night! Here you go."

"Hug! Biiiig hug!"

"You're giving Mr. Night a hug? That's so nice."

"Hug Mommy?"

"Oh, thank you. Mommy likes hugs. You ready to get out of the crib?"

"No!"

"Oh. Okay. Well, Mommy's going to go potty, okay? Be right back."

"Mommy, come back!"

"I haven't even got to the bathroom yet. Just wait!"

"Mommy! Mommy! Come back! Come back, Mommy! Mommy, come back!"

"There. Geez. You ready to get out of the crib now?"

"No! Hug?"

"Thank you. Let's get up, okay?"

"No! No school! Penny go doctor?"

"Well, you're going to school first, and then later I'll take you to the doctor."

"Penny go doctor!"

"Later, yeah. Let's get up and get dressed."

"No! ...Go downstairs?"

"...Yeah, fine. Let's get you in a clean diaper and then you can go downstairs."

"Hurt!"

"I know it hurts, sweetie. That's why we're going to the doctor later. But you have to let me put the diaper- Lay down, goofy girl. Thank you."

"No socks?!"

"Yeah, you can stay barefoot until it's time to put on your shoes. Put your arm in the slee- Good girl. Okay, all done. You can go downstairs now."

"...Up?"

"No, Mommy has to stay upstairs and get dressed. You can go downstairs, or you can stay upstairs with Mommy."

"Penny upstairs."

"Okay."

"Open dat?"

"What's tha- Oh, honey, those boxes take forever to get into, I don't know..."

"Penny's!"

"Yes, it's your toy, but- Oh, fine."

"Horse! Habbit?"

"Yes, you can have the horse. Here."

"Neigh! Neigh-neigh-neigh?"

"You want the little man?"

"No!"

"Okay."

"Zebwa!"

"That's not a zebra, it's a dragon, silly."

"Dwagon! Habbit?"

"Hang on, it's got thirty twisties on it... There you go."

"Hi, dwagon! Hi, horse! How you doing?"

"Look, there's a cart that the horse can pull-"

"NO!!!"

"...The horse rides in the cart? Silly girl. Sure, okay. Mommy has to get dressed now."

"Come on, horse! Go for ride? ...Down the hill! Be careful! Whassamatter, horse? You okay? Be careful! Go see Mommy! Hi, Mommy!"

"Hi, horse! Where'd dragon go?"

"Let's find out! Come on, horse! Go for ride... Down the hill! Hi, dwagon! Hi, horse! Go see Mommy? Okay! Hi, Mommy!"

"Hi, horse! Hi, dragon! How're you doing today? Are you friends?"

"Horse friend! Dwagon, Penny, Mommy, friends!"

"We're all friends?"

"Yeah."

"That's so nice."

"Hug!"

There are worse starts to the day, even if I do have a sore throat. (Just in time for Matt's visit! How perfect!)

(That was, by the way, vastly abbreviated. There was a whole discussion about Mr. Night's various body parts and how they are all covered with stars, and about his hat. And all the dragon's facial features were ennumerated. And pushing the horse in the cart back and forth along the edge of the bed was repeated at least four times, along with multiple tumbles. Like that. I can't believe that I ever worried about her not talking enough.)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

--Liz