Hiyo.

The two-year-old and I walked past a Montessori school on the way to lunch. Kids were playing outside, several keeping a close eye on a big delivery truck on the street.

The kids chatted a bit as we walked past, the two-year-old interested but grumpy with nap time approaching. We were ten feet down the road when he informed me, “I want to say hiyo.”

We walked back, toddler solidly regarding the preschoolers. “Hello, baby,” one said.

“Hiyo, baby,” he replied reflexively.

After a minute or so, we walked on to get our smoothie. “Hiyo, baby,” said the two-year-old, settled at our table.

“That’s what they said to you, huh?”

“They say hiyo baby.”

A few minutes later, dreamily: “Hiyo, baby.”