"Go to Work"

Tonight Maia carefully stuffed her num-num in her Dora the explorer backpack, then had me help her put it on.  Then she picked up bear and walked to the front door and announced, "Bye-bye, see ya!  Go to work!"  Apparently she's been doing this a lot lately, and Jeanette says that while she is pretending, she is not pretending about going.  She'll then tell Jeanette, "Outside!"  And want her to open the door.  Tonight I wondered how far she would get, so I opened the door for her and away we went.

It was very cute walking with a determined little girl, sometimes running, sometimes shuffling along barely moving, sometimes stopped as she took in all the people sitting outside at the restaurants, and sometimes spinning in a circle like a dog chasing its tail as she tried to see "num-num" behind her in her backpack.  For the first five blocks she actually followed my route to work (at each intersection I would ask her "which way?" and she would point emphatically, saying, "That way!")  As we passed a bar playing music she began to dance, and for awhile after that she was singing.  We had to stop at the coca-cola factory because they have a bright red railing out front, and she wanted to be a monkey.  I was a little worried cuz her backpack was big and heavy, and her hands are so tiny, but she hung on and swung really well.  Everyone we passed thought she was hilarious.  Such a determined little girl.  She kept giving her bear a kiss and telling it, "See ya Bear, have fun!"

After 15 blocks, when it was basically dark, she finally stopped and asked me to pick her up.  She had carried her bear the whole way, and worn her backpack.  I'm still not sure where she works, but she sure enjoyed going there.