anticipate!

I’m sitting on the couch, and Eliot (not quite two years old) is sitting next to me. He has recently developed an acute case of MickeyMousekephilia, and is sitting there saying: “Eliot, Mickey Mouse; Mickey Mouse, Eliot; Eliot, Mickey Mouse; Mickey Mouse,Eliot…”

This goes on for about five minutes before I get a word in edgewise.

Me: “Are you and Mickey Mouse friends?”

Eliot: (After a long pause) “Yeeeaaah.” (Smiles.)

Me: “Are you best friends?”

Eliot: “Yeeeeaah!” (Smiles again.)

Me: “What do you and Mickey Mouse do together?”

Eliot: (Long pause. Leans over and gives me a kiss on the cheek.)

Me: “Awwww, that’s really sweet. What else do you guys do?”

Eliot: (Without missing a beat, gives me a gigantic roundhouse smack across the face, leans in real close, gives me the stinkeye, and just says one word.)

“ANTICIPATE!” (Gets down; wanders across the room.)

Me: “Fucking Disney!”

Notes: (1) the “roundhouse” was pretty clearly unintentional (and barely left a mark); (2) “Anticipate!” might have been “am I not GREAT!”, or “a mushy plate!” or any number of things; (3) “Mickey Mouse is” pronounced “mee-mee-mah” by Eliot, which is how he pronounces “Minnie Mouse” as well, so he might have been saying “Minnie Mouse” rather than “Mickey Mouse.”