Eleanor cracked me up the other night. She knows the sign language for "diaper"' and "all done" (like when she's finished eating). Friday night we had friends over for dinner and she was not very happy about going to bed while there was so much going on. But we went upstairs and I gave her a bottle and read a few books and was singing her to sleep. After much squirming she settled down and rested her head on my shoulder.She suddenly lifted her head and patted her chest (her modified sign for "diaper"). I said no, we had just changed her diaper and it was fine. She laid her head back down, but it popped up again a moment later as she gave me the sign for "all done"—hands out to the side, palms up.
She looked so hopeful. Like, I can communicate! She must obey my wishes! It was hard not to laugh, but I sternly told her that she was not "all done" with going to bed, and she wasn't going to get out of it. Finally she settled down and went to sleep with just a short cry of protest when I laid her in the crib.
I'm sure this is only the first of many many times that she'll try to put off bedtime. Such an exciting development in communication .... that I'll probably be cursing by next week!
4 comments:
They are damn crafty, aren't they. They only get more clever too. Our 5 yr old was warned the other night that the only reason she could reasonably get up in the middle of the night was if she was ill, or had a nightmare.
The next morning, at 5am, she comes into our room - "I've got a tummy ache - can I go downstairs and watch television?"
Excellent point: It will only become more problematic once she can actually talk. Amazing how the deviousness is nature NOT nurture!
Will was a huge fan of using the sign for "more" over and over while eating something sweet, or playing somethind wild. Then he even added the sign for "please". It's hard to say No back to them when they ask so sweetly (and look so cute while asking)!
Once Eleanor learns "please", I'm sure I'll be a goner!
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