My youngest child may be smarter than all of us combined. She just turned two, and runs the house with an iron fist. Being Mom, I am wise to her ways, but alas, it seems I am the only one who sees her for what she truly is - a master manipulator in the making.
When she was a year, I took her in for her check up, and told the doctor that I was a little worried because she wasn't talking. He asked me how she communicated, and I told him: when she screeched like a fire engine, she was pissed, usually because someone had taken something away from her. When she yelled loudly, she wanted food/drink/diaper change, and usually all three. When she threw herself on the floor and screamed, she was tired. And when she cried like a normal baby, she was bored.
He asked me if she was saying any words at all.
"Well, not really. She can count to 10, and say 'Mama' and 'Dada' but not on command, and only if that person isn't there. Oh, and she can say, 'Hi!' She tells everyone hi. Oh, and she sings 'Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.' But not the words, just the tune."
He told me it sounded like she was communicating just fine, but if we wanted her to talk, we had to start making her ask for things. Okaaaaay. Sure.
That lasted about a week. And then we discovered that trying to make her talk encouraged her to skip past all the rest of her cries and go straight to 'fire engine.' Fuck it! They can teach her sign language in kindergarden, right?
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