Magic word confusion

LLC has forged her own version of the “magic word:” NO.

It comes out as “noooo,” and almost sounds like a yodel. It’s pretty cute, and because of this it can be easy to forget that she’s repeatedly shunning the affirmative and voicing her opposition, even when the answer clearly is yes!

Cue eye rub. “LLC, are you tired?” “NO!” Okay, I understand, she has already developed a love of being awake and not missing anything.

But then, cue dinner time, and LLC loves her food. “LLC, are you hungry? Let’s go get some dinner.” “NO!” Yet then she’ll reconsider and start using her “eat” sign.

Next cue really bad smell. “LLC, do you need your diaper changed?” “NO!” And then she’ll wander off in the direction of her changing mat.

I’m not sure where “yes” is hiding in her daily expanding vocabulary, but it hasn’t yet come out to play. I wondered if maybe I say no a lot, but I don’t think I do, since at our sing and sign class I also learned the sign for stop and I often use this instead of no when I want her to quit something. I’ve also been trying to respond to negative actions by responding with what a more appropriate positive action would be, as suggested to me in a previous post.

I guess through this phase of NO I must bear in mind the old adage that actions speak louder than words!