Mommy and Mellie

For those of you that don't know, Ronnie has started taking classes at UH Sugar Land (through UH Victoria) for a computer degree in order to make a career change.  Classes started on January 17th.  He is taking four classes, three in class ones and one online one.  What this means is that on Mondays through Wednesdays, he leaves for class by 6:30 and I am home along with Hurricane Mellie those nights. 

So, last Monday night was the start of our first full week.  Mellie was in a good mood, and as we didn't make it to the grocery store over the weekend, I packed her up to go pick up a sandwich at Subway.  Usually, Ronnie cooks dinner for us.  This is probably going to be the biggest adjustment for me.  Being responsible for providing the two of us with dinner. 

When we got to Subway, I carried Mellie in and as I was considering my order, the Sandwich Artist (as they used to be called) asked if Mellie was mine.  I guess this is a question I should get used to.  I'm already used to being told that she looks EXACTLY like her father.  But now, I need to get used to people being suspicious of whether she's even mine?  I know the lady didn't mean anything by it, so I told her that she was and added "She looks just like her Daddy."

After I got my sandwich, I took Mellie back to the car and loaded her up into her car seat.  "Are you ready to go go go?"  I asked her several times.  Then, I climbed in myself and started the car, only to hear Mellie in the back say "ga ga ga," which I realized was her way of saying "go go go."  So, I repeated "go go go" and heard "ga ga ga" from the back.  Liking how this was going, I said "Dee Dee" (our cat's name -- Mellie thinks Dee Dee hung the moon).  I heard a little voice eagerly say "Dee Dee" from the back.  "Da da?" I asked.  "Da da!" was the response.  By now, we were driving through the Randall's parking lot, so I pointed out the people in the parking lot and encouraged Mellie to say "hi" to them.  Silence.  So, I moved on.  "Ma ma?"  Crickets.  "Dee Dee?"  "Dee Dee!" was the eager response.  "Ma ma?"  Pause.  "Da da!"  "No, Mellie, say Ma Ma!"  Crickets again.  Then, in a tiny little whisper so soft I almost missed it, I heard "Ma ma."  It filled my heart up.

So, we got back to the house, and I shared my sandwich with Mellie by tearing off pieces of the bread and the chicken.  Just as I chewed and swallowed the last bite, Mellie turns to me and makes the sign for "more" and said "ma."  I felt so horrible!  She wanted some more, used the appropriate sign and everything, and there wasn't any more to be had!  Fortunately for me, Mellie quickly forgave me.