Nora's going through an interesting linguistic phase where she likes to narrate everything she's doing: "Nora walking," "Nora swing," etc. Two little hiccups in her language development make this noteworthy: First, she often gets her subject and predicate mixed up, which results in her repeatedly announcing "Mommy hit me!" at maximum volume in public places. Her bruised-up little low-platelet-count body makes this little scenario even more convincing to the average Target cashier.
The other thing she does, which simultaneously makes my heart melt and gives me some insight into the amount of emotional manipulation that may be happening, is to interrupt her weeping to say "Nora crying!" Just in case we didn't notice. I have a feeling that if she were truly in the throes of distress she wouldn't be able to articulate it quite so well.
Speaking of crying and manipulating me, she also does pretend crying now that she thinks is pretty funny. She doesn't understand, yet, that the ability to cry on command is a skill that must be kept secret from the world or it loses all its power. She'll start to make whiny crying sounds and then look at me and burst out laughing.
One more note, on one of the very few ways I've discovered to influence her: Appealing to her desire to be a "big girl" is really starting to work. For example, she'll trip and fall, and instead of rushing to comfort her I try to hold myself back and say, "Good catch! You're such a big girl!" "YEAH!" she'll say, dropping her self-pity. "And you're awfully brave, aren't you?" "YEAHHHH!" she'll agree, and all is forgotten.
The other thing she does, which simultaneously makes my heart melt and gives me some insight into the amount of emotional manipulation that may be happening, is to interrupt her weeping to say "Nora crying!" Just in case we didn't notice. I have a feeling that if she were truly in the throes of distress she wouldn't be able to articulate it quite so well.
Speaking of crying and manipulating me, she also does pretend crying now that she thinks is pretty funny. She doesn't understand, yet, that the ability to cry on command is a skill that must be kept secret from the world or it loses all its power. She'll start to make whiny crying sounds and then look at me and burst out laughing.
One more note, on one of the very few ways I've discovered to influence her: Appealing to her desire to be a "big girl" is really starting to work. For example, she'll trip and fall, and instead of rushing to comfort her I try to hold myself back and say, "Good catch! You're such a big girl!" "YEAH!" she'll say, dropping her self-pity. "And you're awfully brave, aren't you?" "YEAHHHH!" she'll agree, and all is forgotten.
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