When Emma gets a "Hmm-mm" or a "not right now," she immediately whines, screeches, and begins slapping the wall or storms to her room just so she can SLAM the door! If the nearest door is out of reach, she slams whatever cabinet door or drawer that's nearest. Slamming doors and drawers seems to give her deep satisfaction. The violence against the door, the slam in the face, the power, the control, the symbolic expression of her grievances. "And stay out!" she says.
She is not as conversational or verbally expressive as her brother. Sentences take more effort, so she takes short cuts, and pronunciation is often muffled. We took her to an audiologist just to make sure the issue wasn't auditory. We sat in the small darkened room as the audiologist showed her pictures and asked her to point to each object that he named. He looked into her ears and warned her about a tiny sound she would hear in the earphone instrument he was placing on her ear. She sat quietly, curiously. He told me not to respond to the sounds I was about to hear and not to cue her in any way. Then, he left us in the room and sat behind a glass window where we could see him wearing a headset. Suddenly to the left--a sound. She turned to see a monkey banging its cymbals inside a clear box mounted on the wall. To the right--a clown blows a horn. The audiologist began speaking into different speakers that surrounded us, and Emma looked all around. She passed all of the tests for her age-level.
So I'm not sure what it is that causes her trouble with verbal communication. But I'm not going to worry. She'll get it. And her language is pretty cute. She still resorts to her baby babbling sometimes. Her pretend phone conversations are more about vocal inflection, mumbling with an occasional, "Oh my gosh," and "Okay, bye."
One day when we had some friends over, all of the kids were in the driveway riding trikes and Power Wheels. For some reason, Emma was so upset. She sat on her trike, pulling and fighting, whining, and crying. Something was obviously wrong, but I couldn't figure it out. I'd try to steer her in another direction, push her along. This made her even more frustrated. I didn't get it. I gave up. Later, when Ethan got on the trike, he said, "It isn't working. Something won't go!" and he was looking behind him for whatever was blocking the trike's movement. I never even realized there was a wheel brake that could be set on the trikes, just like a stroller. I'm so sorry, Emma. Mommy didn't know.
She loves to be held and carried around, especially when Mommy is busy cooking dinner. She stands at the baby gate with her arms up, repeating, "Imma hode-ju. Imma hode-ju, pweese?" I usually can't resist this request because I know the time will come too soon that she will no longer want to hold me, no longer beg for my attention and affection. Many dinners have been burned while Mommy gets held by Emma or during another potty break...or yet another clean-up on aisle 2.
While I cook, I try to distract her with her all-time favorite show, "Sya-nah Sreet." She loves Big Bird. She watches episodes repeatedly and knows every word that is spoken and when. I have no doubt of Emma's intelligence. She has an amazing memory for songs, tv show lines and phrases that her parents say. I don't know why she doesn't talk more.... She sings the alphabet perfectly, counts to 15 without much thought. She even goes to "school" now once a week with her brother. They have a music class, and she just loves saying, "Ma tea-cher. Miss Beff, Miss Chorween.... Goo'moreen, cwass!" And you should see her operate her cd player! It is hilarious to me...her tiny little self popping open the disc lid like she was born doing it, switching out the cd, closing it, quickly pushing the appropriate buttons even though they are all very small and similar looking. She gets that baby blaring her favorite songs in no time flat. "Hakuna Matata!"
Talking Tom is the best app on a phone that Emma has ever seen! She is so happy to hear that little cartoon kitty repeating her favorite sayings and gibberish phrases. I noticed that she kept saying one particular gibberish phrase to Talking Tom...again and again. I tried so hard to figure out what it sounded like.... What is she saying?? Talking Tom had it down pat, and before too long, so did I. "It's a rah-tae mikka-wah! It's a rah-tae mikka-wah!" Your guess is as good as mine. I can't help but be reminded of the movie Nell (movie trailer: 1994) . She's like a little Nell with her own "wanguage."
Every once in a while when she is speaking her gibberish again, I repeat that one sentence of Emma's "Nellish" that I know: "It's a rah-tae mikka-wah!" She smiles her biggest smile. Wow, Mommy knows Nell-ish! I'm trying to teach her the only actual Nell-ish phrase that I remember from the movie: "Taaaaay ina wiiiiiin!" and I wave my hands like a tree in the wind, just like Nell. Oh, please, sweet Emma, just say it for Mommy. :)
"Uh-guffa Mimi--okay? Uh-guffa Nannie--okay? Uh-guffa Uncuh JAmes. Uh-guffa Ant Jare-wun. Uh-guffa Bren-ten. Uh-guffa Cway. Uh-guffa Uhh-Umy.['Aunt Amy' is a hard one] Uh-guffa Uncuh MIchael. Uh-guffa Kacie. Uh-guffa Karwie."
"Ha good day!"
