So I'm walking down 14th Street today with the Divine Miss M in the stroller and She-Who-Is keeping pace not only with her steps but her constant conversation about the smells, the sites, and the city she calls "her city."

She asks me about a quarter of the way to the Metro station we are headed to if she can have some gum. I, of course, think we should charge on and not stop, and tell her I'll answer her request when we get to the station. She sees an opening in an upcoming red light on a street we'll have to cross and negotiates with me to stop and give her the gum now. Thinking like a grandparent and not a parent (yes, I would have stuck to my guns with my own children way back when and they would have just had to wait) it made sense what she was proposing and we stopped, I dug in my purse for the desired sugar-free Trident Mint gum that she enjoys so much (over the Pink Bubble Gum flavor I might add...go figure...one of the few times she turns down "pink") and handed it to her. She put it in her mouth and began to chew it, handed me the wrapper which elicits the same exact response from me every time "do I look like the trash can?" and she smiles and my heart sings, and we continued on our way.

We hadn't walked a half block more before she stopped me and said "MaDear, I can walk and chew gum at the same time."

I. Kid. You. Not.