Friday, February 5, 2010

No Means No... (Or Sometimes Yes)

Like I mentioned before, Moana has exploded with her ability to verbalize things lately. 'Yes' was one of her first words and it was just so cute to hear her say an emphatic YES! to everything.

"Moana, do you want to eat?" YES!

"Moana, do you want to go outside?" YES!

"Moana, do you want to go to the beach?" YES!

"Moana, is it time to take a nap?" YES!

Ahhhh, the glory days.

Though stage 2 wasn't so bad... she learned to shake her head and say no. But it was cute sounding 'no'... with a high pitched ending making it almost sound like a question... "no?" The great part about stage 2 was that she only said no when she meant it. Like seriously, she wasn't hungry anymore and she would say 'no?' while waving her hands in front of her face. Her message was clear. I'm done eating, mom. Ok. Got it. I was so proud of my little girl for being so spot on in expressing her desires. For like a whole week she said Yes! when she meant yes, and no? when she meant no. I could totally depend on the answer she gave me when I asked a question. Love this girl.

Now, however, we have moved onto the next stage, where she says NO to just about everything. Sometimes it's still the cute 'no?' but other times it's really more of a NOOOO. Anyway, dumb me was still in the habit of listening to her when she would reply in the negative to a question I would ask. Take this morning, for example. She didn't eat much for breakfast. Kinda weird because usually she eats a big breakfast, but whatever, she had no interest in eating. So I let it go. We played for several more hours, and once every 30 minutes or so I would ask her, "Moana, are you hungry? Do you want to eat?" To which she would reply, 'no?' Ok, so we went about playing. Finally it was about 10:00 and I figured it must be either nap time or eat time, though she replied an emphatic no? to each question when it was asked. Hmmm. Then right after a big 'no?' she showed me the eat sign (hands to mouth) and said 'eat'. Hmmm. So I asked again, "Moana, do you want to eat?" To which she replied, "No." I told her that if she was hungry and wanted to eat that she needed to say "yes", to which she replied "yes!". So we came downstairs where my starving daughter ate a huge breakfast.

I really need to stop asking the question about nap time now too. Because you know the answer to the question "Is it nap time?" is always going to be 'no' when a 15 month old gets to decide. She protested pretty strongly against the nap today and I let it go for a little while because she genuinely did not seem tired, but by noon (when she'd been awake since 6) I put my foot down and told her that nap time means nap time and I left her in her crib to protest as much as she wanted. Now the house is peacefully quiet and when she wakes up I suspect she'll be less grumpy. Though now I won't be able to trust her 'no' for a while.

Finally (unrelated to this post) here is a video of Moana at the beach last week. Angela mentioned on her blog today that she thought Zach would like to go to a warm sunny spot so I thought, worst case, maybe he'd at least like to watch one of his little girlfriends in one...

8 comments:

Angela and David said...

We just watched that video like 5 times and I swear after each time Zach looked up at me accusingly like "Umm, hello, why don't we live some place like that?" And Zach's little local girlfriend Anna better step up her game because Moana is super cute.

"No" here is always said with the tone "hell no lady, why did you even ask such a stupid question." Enjoy the "no?"s while they last.

Kathy said...

Nice video. Cute! I was feeling a little jealous, but then Dave pointed out that sometimes it isn't even 70 there, so why should we want to go...

Regina said...

Trying 'NO' on for size; it's so funny! (and confusing). I miss a lot of this stuff, so I'll re(live) vicariously through you.

What is it with the beach and kids? We don't even really live THAT close to one and my son LOVES it. so lucky you are. Oh, my son was watching this with me and recognized he has the same crab.

N.D. said...

that video was adorable! I want to live at the beach. Too funny about the yeses and nos

Audrey said...

Upon reading your title I immediately started singing the They Might Be Giants song and sort of thought you were referring to it. *grin* My husband sings this all the time when we have to say No to Everett. I'm waiting for Everett to start singing it back.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=993uDVVJIb4

Relentless Forward Commotion said...

aww! Kain says "NO" to everything too. He loves to watch "Go Diego Go" with his big brother, and to every question Diego asks, Kain yells "NOOOOO" and shakes his head, it's funny!

The Salty One said...

Awww! The no thing is so cute. I am sure it's annoying in the moment, though and I will eat these words in a month or so when peanut starts that stuff. He's 14 months and has been verbalizing a TON all of a sudden the last couple of weeks, but few distinguishable words. He will occasionally bust something out like "snow!" or "all done" but usually it's just "DA!" Everything is "DA!" He seems like he gearing up to start conversatin'. It's really awesome to watch the metamorphosis.

I have been reading, just busy. So, while I'm here just wanted to say that I'm happy you're getting back to your old self. What a yuck process, but you really have been a real inspiration to persevering through hard times. So, thanks for that!

Velma said...

Thanks for commenting on my facebook page. This is such an amazing city. The people are amazing. I can't wait to bring the kids back.
Instead of asking yes or no - I sometimes ask- do you want to sleep with x or y toy or blanket. It gives them some control. Good luck!