Conversations with strangers

Benjamin started speaking in whole sentences last year around this time. More milk, Mommy. A cow says moo. That sort of thing.

What an amazing difference a year makes. One little year.

One day last week while shopping, we stopped at Panda Express at the exchange. (They claim to not use MSG, but btw, it's a lie, I'm pretty sure I was MSGed.) While I was trying to dig my wallet out of my glamorous diaper bag, the cashier looked at Benjamin and asked him what his name was and I was about to answer for him (as usual), but he looked her square in the eye and said "Benjamin" and then proceeded to go back to snacking on his skittles. Then she smiled and asked how old he was and he said, "I'm four. Just turned four. We had cookies and I got my Buzz Lightyear wings."

I'm pretty sure I teared up a little, and I'm more than sure that this lady thought I was absolutely nuts, but I was overwhelmed with a lot of different emotions. Amazing what one little year can do.