As stubborn as they come!

I have one stubborn kid. See, because Nathan’s not talking yet, I’ve been teaching him sign language to help with his communication, even though he understands me perfectly when I talk to him. He follows directions and minds me extremely well, but he won’t talk. Sometimes, when he’s in just the right mood, I can get him to repeat a word after me a couple of times, but that’s about it. And I can’t help but wonder if part of the reason he’s not talking yet is because Paul and I can anticipate his every need. We know every gesture, facial expression, and what his body language means.  But sometimes I wonder if our ability to anticipate everything he needs or wants is more to his detriment than his benefit.

So I’ve been teaching him sign language to help with his communication. He understands the signs and knows how to do them, yet he won’t! For instance, any time I ask him to show me a particular sign, instead of signing it he tries to get ME to sign it by using his hands to manipulate my own. So I’ll rephrase it by saying, “Ok, show me the sign with your OWN hands, Nathan.” And instead of doing the sign, which he obviously knows how to do since he uses my hands to do it, he lets his hands collapse into his lap and will just kind of jerk them instead while smiling impishly. IMPISHLY, I TELL YOU! And this goes for ALL his signs… milk, finished, eat, more, sleep, book, go, stop, car, bath, etc. He refuses to sign them and instead uses his own hands on my hands. He is literally showing Mommy the sign without doing it himself.

Geez. If he’s this stubborn now, I wonder what the teenage years are going to be like!

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2 Comments

  1. Too funny! Where did that stubborness come from…I’m sure it must be Paul’s side, right?!
    .-= SuziCate´s last blog ..Heading In Until We Got Locked Out! =-.

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