The Adventures of Harry and Grace (H.S.)

No

A smile spreads across Harry's face; his eyes follow Grace as she walks across the family room carpet. Her legs shake slightly when she puts weight on them, ready to take the next step. She has been walking for about a month and her strength and balance are growing by the day. Grace dives for her stuffed sheep, Bob, giving him a massive open mouth kiss, showering him with love. The slobber string pulls long when she pulls her mouth away from her animal, giving her parents a massive grin.

"Givin' Bob some love?" Harry asks his 14-month-old daughter who has dropped her sheep to the carpet, keeping her eyes glued on her father as he talks to her.

"Da-da." Grace says, pointing towards her father. His eyes sparkle with pride from his daughter saying his name.

"Tha's right. I'm dada. Where's mumma?" Harry asks, looking around side to side as if he can't find you anywhere when you are really just sitting next to him.

"Mum-ma!" Grace points her chubby little finger towards her mum, a giant smile climbs across her face, showing off her four little teeth.

"Yay Gracie!" You giggle as you clap your hands in congratulations. "I'm mumma. Where's Gracie?" Moving your heads back and forth, both of you search for your daughter, looking all around the room.

"Me!" Gracie points her finger at her tummy, indicating that she is in fact Gracie.

"My Gracie." Harry lunges forward, wrapping his arms around Grace and attacking her with tickles and kisses. The room is filled with tiny giggles that make your heart feel warm.

As Harry's grip on Grace loosens, she escapes his attack by crawling away, ending her getaway by the fireplace. She places her hands on the stone bench and pulls herself up, using the hard surface to steady her wobbly legs.

Grace look back at her parents, who are watching her every move. She moves her head, looking towards the fireplace, then back at her parents, and towards the fireplace once more. You can see the thought process that is going through her head at this moment.

"Gracie bug...." Harry's tone is a warning to Grace that touching the fireplace is not a good thing. She whips her head back to her father at the sound of her name.

"No!" Grace lifts her hand from the bench pointing towards the fireplace, clearly stating that touching the fireplace is a big no-no.

"What?" Harry's voice squeaks as he looks over at you, holding back the giggles by covering your mouth with your hand. "Do we touch the fireplace Grace?" Harry asks his daughter.

"No!" She says again. Harry erupts in a laugh, and it causes you to let the giggles fly. This is the first time she has said the word 'no' and obviously has listened to you when you told her the fireplace is hot and not safe.

"No da-da." Grace says, making her parents laugh even harder. Grace plops down on the ground; her giggles add to the laughter that has filled the room.

"No? Wha' are yeh tellin' me no fo'?" Harry gets out between his laughter.

"No-no!" She says again, giggling before her parents can start laughing. Clearly Grace thinks telling her parents no is pretty funny.

"The fireplace is a No-No! That's right." You tell Grace, shaking your head and chuckling at how clearly her little 'no' came out.

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"Gracie bug. Wan' a banana?" Harry asks his daughter who is strapped into her highchair, waiting for her lunch to be placed on her tray.

"No." Grace is nonchalant in her statement. Looking up at her father, eyes wide and beautiful.

"I'm gobsmacked!" Harry looks at you, cutting up little pieces of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for your daughter. "My daughter, my own flesh and blood, just said no to a banana."

"Gracie do you want a pbj?" You ask her. Lifting up the sandwich chunks, you walk them across the kitchen and place them on her tray, not really giving Grace a choice in her lunch.

"No." Grace's tone is soft as she picks up a piece of bread, putting it in her mouth and chewing the yummy combination.

"Maybe you could just cut up the banana; she will probably eat it." You say to Harry who looks slightly defeated by the fact that his daughter would choose carbs over the best fruit known to man.

"Gracie? Daddy likes bananas, see..." Harry peels the banana, taking a big bite out of the yellow fruit. "MMMM..." He hums as he swallows his bite.

"No." Grace says again, placing another chunk of bread into her mouth.

"I give up." Harry places the banana on the counter and lets out a sigh. You take the banana, cutting it in small slices for your daughter, placing them on the tray for Grace to eat. She picks up the banana, placing it in her mouth, happy as a clam.

"Why are yeh sayin' no if yeh wan' it?" Harry looks at his daughter with his hands on his hips, slightly frustrated that she keeps saying no for no other reason than to say the new word she learned a couple days ago.

Grace eats her lunch happily, alternating between sandwich, banana, and water. Harry continues to ask her different questions, and with each answer you can see he is growing more annoyed.

"Ready to go on a walk?" Harry wipes off Grace's hands and face with a washcloth, unbuckling her from her highchair.

"No-no." This time Grace adds in a small head shake, indicating a walk was not what she wanted to do. Harry clears his throat, and removes her tray, placing Grace on the ground.

"Come on, Gracie bug. Let's go for a quick walk. It'll be lovely." He pleads with Grace; she looks up at her father, wrinkling her forehead a little bit.

"No!' This time, she stomps her foot slightly, the curls on the top of her head bouncing with the movement. "No. Go." Grace says, firmly telling her father her stance on the activity he wants to enjoy. You stand back, watching the interaction take place. You can see the smoke that is ready to pour out of Harry's ears as he lifts his foot and stomps it slightly just as your daughter had.

"No. I'm the daddy. I say we are goin' on a walk." Harry says, obviously sick of the answer that Grace has been giving for everything the past couple days. "Mum, yeh comin'?" He leans down, pulling Grace into his arms. Harry makes his way towards the garage door, ready to get Grace strapped into her pushchair.

"Yup! Let's go!" You're worried if you tell Harry no it might just put him over the edge. So you agree to go on a walk with your two favorite people.

"Yay!" Grace claps her hands as they near the door.

"So now yer excited." Harry rolls his eyes dramatically.

"No." Grace says again, making you hold back giggles. Harry buckles Grace into her pushchair and you enjoy a lovely walk with your husband and daughter, knowing that even though Harry may be annoyed that Grace continues to tell him no, he still loves her with all his heart.