Friday, September 08, 2006

“No” Means “No!” (And ”Yes!”)



Whoever taught my 14-month old the word “NO!” should be shot. Twice. And it better hurt. A lot.
I swear, she sings “NO! NO! NOOOOOOO!!!”, she yells “NO! NO!” she even whispers “no”. Its like she knows it's irritating my wife and I and loves it. She’ll even say “NO” even when she means “Yes”.

We’ve tried using others words, like “Stop”. “Don’t touch!”, “Hot!”, etc. with her when she’s diving for that knife drawer, power tool, fireplace, or “Daddy’s bucket of chicken” (aka, “bucket of heaven”). We’ve been pretty good so far, and then this “No!” enters our house. I want to start over- where’s her reset button?

I’m going to make a t-shirt for her that says “I Don’t Care. The Answer is NO!” And then there will be an angry face in the “O” with its tongue sticking out.

13 comments:

Diana said...

I want to wear that t-shirt, since it's the word I say most to my ever-exploring son.
and why do you get your own bucket o' chicken???

Radioactive Tori said...

After you make the shirt, post a picture! I remember that "no" age with at least 3 of my kids. I think I had one that didn't do that, but I can't remember which one! I'm sure I wrote it in their baby books. My last baby used to say no for "no" and then "noyes" for yes. It cracked me up!

dennis said...

hmmmm, t-shirt or bucket 'o heaven?

I'll take the bucket 'o heaven. I will get sooo much more mileage from lovin' the bucket!

good luck on the 'no' tones. Don't give up/in or she'll know that she has won (even though everybody knows she's won--they always do, ask my girl.imp--she need not be given that knowledge until after she graduates college).

Ryan said...

I am finding that as my boy gets older and we can now have a solid conversation, question asking has become paramount for him in place of the constant "NO!!!". The "NO!!!" is the easy way for me, but if I'm clever with him, like the other day when he began to try to pour milk out of his sippy cup (again) on the floor, I asked, "Do you think that you should be doing that?" He said "yes" and smiled, but then stopped. A victory, finally!!!

Good luck man.

I was going to say, teach her Spanish so you don't have to deal with this, but they use "no" too, eh.

junebee said...

The Branch has a temper tantrum whenever he hears that word. Although the kids listen better in Spanish, sadly, "no" is still the same. We've also tried "nyet"
(because the Branch says DA! DA! all the time) or "bu" (Chinese) but to no avail!

Anonymous said...

It's so funny that you would post about this. My guy is about the same age but not yet saying "no". But I was thinking about how often I say the word "no" to him and how I ought to mix it up with "yes" sometimes so he learns both.

Anonymous said...

just wandered over ...

we have a kid in our playgroup who says, 'no-suuuure'.

???!!!

Anonymous said...

My 15mth old DD hasnt learnt to say NO just the shaking of the head NO! Gotta love the do you love mommy/daddy/sisters etc all a shake of the head NO and then you throw in there is the sky blue? of course shake of the head NO. Love love this age soooo much. Her favorite thing to say though is "Stop It".

Mel said...

Oooooh... I want one, too...
And sweet charity, how I remember (with deepest hatred) the "NO" phase.
Ugh.

metro mama said...

I want a shirt like that for me!

Suburban Turmoil said...

Great shirt! If I start singing a song my two-year-old doesn't want to sing along with, she'll sing the whole thing putting 'no's' in place of all the words.

Mel said...

Heh. I just tagged you, dude.
I'd have put it on the newer post, but that one felt inappropriate.

Angel Baby said...

Annabelle just shakes her head back and forth, "no"... she used to nod, but that's been a couple months since.

I hope you have video taped her using No as Yes.

It sounds hilarious and adorable all at once. Maybe with a little frustration mixed in!