Opinionated

If you were a fly on the wall in our home these days, you would probably hear the word "no" quite a bit. I really have tried to use it with reserve, using other words such as "danger", "stop", and redirecting through use of positive statements...but the word is just plain unavoidable sometimes. For example, I am sure Jillian heard a firm "no no" when she pulled this stunt last week while I was doing dishes.

Jillian now understands the word and applies its use in a variety of situations. She uses it to express that something is not going to happen or that someone is not here. This occurs most frequently when I go in to get her in the morning--she knows Matt will already be gone for work and therefore proclaims, "Dada! No."
She also enjoys engaging in dangerous behaviors while simultaneously reprimanding herself. For example, she will go up to the oven door, touch it, and say "no no!". But it is in the expression of her opinions and preferences where the word gets the most workout. Jillian knows what she wants, and she knows how to get it. If you try to give her food she doesn't like or isn't willing to try, you will hear a frantic 'no'. She tells me 'no' when I try to put her coat on her to get ready to leave somewhere she is not ready to leave yet (this is also accompanied by running away from me or dropping to the floor in tantrum). She tells me 'no' if I try to put an outfit on her she doesn't prefer. Yesterday, as we were car shopping, we opened a door to a prospective vehicle to peer inside. Jillian suddenly and repeatedly shouted, "no! no! no!" (We had to concur with her on that one--we weren't fond of it, either!). You get the picture. She is smack dab in the middle of toddlerhood and trying to assert her autonomy. It's normal, expected...and admittedly a bit frustrating at times. However, we really love how she directs story time before bed with her use of the word. It is just plain humorous to us. She simply does not allow us to read a book she doesn't want to hear--she certainly has her favorites. We managed to capture it on camera tonight for your viewing pleasure. If you aren't a close relative, you might not be interested in the lengthy 5 minute clip :) You will get the idea after about 30 seconds or so. Matt kept recording because we were trying to capture one of her new words (teacher) that she says at the end of a book. If you listen closely at the end of "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" you will hear it. I should also record that other new words this week include: elephant ("el-funt"), swimming ("wimming") parrot ("peh-wut"), zebra ("ze-buh"), chair ("ter") and belly button ("billy-baton")....but none are used nearly as much as the favored, "NO!" She's lucky she's cute.