The Observer

"Ooh you can tell she's taking it all in, can't you?" was oft repeated by passing kind old ladies when Alice was small.  Conversely, she can sometimes drive a parent to distraction by seeming to take nothing in at all, especially when being asked to do something.  Or answering "Not anything" to any question posed.  Selective hearing - nature or nurture?  I blame her father's skills in this area, either way!

When we drive home from daycare, usually to the sound of Juliet's screams until we get through the city traffic and get moving, Alice often slumps into a little reverie.  Processing her day/ chomping a snack/ looking out of the window take precedence before we get 10 minutes or so into the journey.  After she's had a chance to digest events and biscuits, she can get quite chatty, but prior to that, I assume she's in her own little world.  I listen to the radio, taking advantage of the distraction from the crying and staving off the inevitable requests for Dora Music.

Yesterday there was an accident in the Eastern Distributor (that's the name of the tunnel and that's all they call it on the radio traffic reports).  As the entrance to the tunnel usually marks the 10 minute mark, we have a little routine conversation to get the ball rolling.  Being English, we remark on the weather outside the tunnel and the traffic inside.   Alice told me that it was a beautiful day and I let Alice know that there was an accident in the tunnel so there'd be traffic.  "The lady already said that on the radio, Mummy", she said.  I marvelled at her comprehension and how she had joined the dots.  How I wished that the segment immediately prior to the earlier traffic report had not been a preview of a segment on the breakfast show, where there is a competition called "sex secrets".   It'll be Dora Music all the way home from now on to protect little ears.