Yesterday we did our whole Thursday afternoon mother/daughter date thing. I took her to Cabin Fever, where my friend R's husband now takes their son. I was highly amused when Grace would crawl into my lap, and R's son would become so insanely jealous that I would have to pick him up too. I don't quite understand why he's so attached to me, but I'm not complaining. He's an adorable child.
Of course we had lunch at the bakery, and then it was necessary for us to go to the bookstore and investigate the possibilities. I found a pristine copy of Sarum by Edward Rutherfurd that I just HAD to have, as it was in such good condition. It was a huge paperback with absolutely no creasing whatsoever in the spine. And I've read other Rutherfurd novels and figured I could round out my collection.
Grace found a Clifford the Big Red Dog book she HAD to have, which I was happy to buy for her. One thing I will spoil her with is books.
She'd been carrying around this stuffed monkey all day that I had gotten her the day before at World Market. She's not the type to carry around a toy, so I knew I had to keep an eye on it to make sure she didn't drop it. When we got back to the car, I'd put it in the front seat with me as I buckled her into the carseat.
Just to see what she would say, I asked her, "Where's Monkey?" (None of her monkeys have real names; they're all "Monkey.") She thought for a moment, and then her face crumpled as she began to mutter in Grace-speak. Finally I heard her wail, "Bookstore!!!!!!!"
She remembered she'd had the monkey in the bookstore, so she thought she'd left it there.
That's better than I can do!! I'll misplace something and it takes me HOURS to find it again!
This morning I asked Grace what we were going to do today. She informed me it was the day for art class, and that she was going to see Miss C. Then she told me something very surprising: she informed me we were going for a picnic!
I had only told her once that we were going to the park and have a picnic with Miss C!! She remembered it all the way from last night to today.
Maybe it's because she's only 2, and she has so much less information crammed into her head than we adults do. Whatever it is, I'm just amazed at her recall. She knows which way we should go to Walmart, she always gets mad when I turn right instead of left at a particular intersection (because to turn left means we're going to Cabin Fever), and she knows her friend Mimi will be at Cabin Fever too!
Man, what I could do with recall like that!