Episode 69: In which I am shocked by the events that took place at CVS

Since her first trip to the doctor Av has always been considered kind of a freak of nature. She has always been super big, her teeth came in early and haven't stopped, she started walking and running before most 1-year-olds can figure out how to stand up. Everything about her would suggest that she is older than she is. Even moms at the park are surprised to find out how young she is when I tell them- and everyone knows that moms at the park know everything about kids, or at least that is what they would like you to think. The only thing that has been kind of lagging with Av is her speech. She is chatty and noisy, but she rarely- if ever- actually forms words. She is so far behind that the doctor told us in February that if she isn't talking yet in a few months to give her a call. ( I have also found, however, that pediatricians in general like to scare you in to thinking there is something wrong with your kid- see the x-ray we had to have last month for the phantom hip problem she supposedly had- so I am not too worried about her speech development).

Eventually some of the noises have evolved in to words. She can now say "kitty" and "dog" in reference to the actual animals (I am crediting "kitty" as her first word since I don't think we ever really documented what that was), she calls me Daddy and she occasionally mimics other sounds like "hey" or "hi" but doesn't use them conversationally. She has always kind of just stated the fact that it was a cat or a dog or summoned my by yelling "Daddy" but that has been it. Recently she has been saying "hi" here and there, never in the right context and mostly just because she hears us say it and it is an easy noise to make. She has never said hi to me or Monica as a an actual greeting, and I have really only heard her say it maybe three or four times in general.

So you can imagine my surprise today when a nice woman named Rosa working in the photo department at CVS looked at the baby and said "ohh, you are so cute. Hello there" and the baby, without hesitation, said "hi." I almost dropped her right there. Rosa thought it was cute, and when I explained that she had never done that before she looked at the baby and said "ohh thank you!" Av responded with a toothy grin.

Since our days are often pretty mundane and consist of a lot of errand running we have our own little clan of cashiers who recognize us spread throughout the Greater Salem area. There is sickly chair man at the Swampscott Walgreens, quiet Spanish lady from the Family Dollar, punk rock hair/belt chain girl from the Salem Walgreens and, my personal favorite, Nandu, an older Indian man from the Walmart on route 114. He is the nicest one of them all and he loves the baby. Every day one of these people will speak to the baby, say hello, tell her how cute she is etc... and Av has the same response every time- that is to bury her head in my shoulder, peek out with one eye and give a shy smile. Only when we walk away does she unearth her head and stare at them smiling as we exit the store.

This makes it all the more amazing that Rosa, who we have never seen before working in a CVS we almost never go to, got a "hi" right off the bat. She didn't even get shy first. Amazing. Incredible. I hope she keeps it up because Nandu will shit his pants if she says hi to him next time, and so will Walgreen's chair man (if his medical issues have not caused him to do that already. Seriously, the guy is not well. He needs a chair because he has one of those giant diabetes legs. He looks like he has about 10 days to live).

Is it sad that I have formed relationships with common, every day discount store employees? Yes, but let's not forget the point of the story here. Today my kid decided to talk to someone. I have always said that it would really trip me out when she started to talk and I was right. My head is still spinning. I almost want to wake her up and take her out shopping to see if she will do it again. I won't though, because I'm hungry.