Yes and No

I’ve probably talked about this to some of you, but in the interest of my not forgetting in a few years what I think is one of the cutest things I’ve ever heard….

Elaina has been saying “yes” and “no” for awhile now.  “No” came first.  “Yes” didn’t emerge until around Thanksgiving when my Mom and Dad were visiting.  Since then, we’ve been able to have yes-no conversations with her, which really helps.  But it’s not always so much what she says as how she says it.

Elaina's "no" is this cute, drawn out (maybe slightly patronizing) "no...."—except when going for something she's not allowed to have, like the TV remote. In those moments, her eyes light up, and with a look of pure joy, she runs towards (or away with) the forbidden object, exclaiming happily, "no-no-no-no-no!".

“Yes” is even cuter.  She doesn’t actually say the word “yes”.  Elaina’s “yes” is a sing-song sort of thing.  I’m going to use up and down arrows to indicate pitch. 

Her standard “yes” is:  “hmm↑hmm↓↓hmmm….”, with the middle “hmm” higher pitched than the other two and the third one lowest and drawn out.  That’s her go-to “yes”, but she has several variants. 

Her “yes, yes, of course, by all means” is a really quick, clipped version, though with the same tones:  “hm↑hm↓↓hm”.  This is what I get if I ask something silly like, “Should we bring Duck?  Do you want to sit in the chair awhile before bed? Do you want some cheese?”

Her most emphatic “yes”, reserved for responses to questions like “Do you want to go outside?  Do you want to get out of your crib?  Do you want a popsicle?” is similarly clipped, but the tones are replaced with a uniform, stress and slight pause for emphasis between each:  “HMM. HMM. HMM!”  Often this is accompanied with a nod on each syllable or at least the last, and is really something to behold.

This Saturday, I got to witness a new variant of Elaina’s “yes”.  Elaina had a bad cold and was miserable and sad.  As a result, Heidi had to go solo to a birthday party that we’d all planned on attending.  Elaina and I stayed home.  Unfortunately, Elaina saw Heidi leave.  That left me with a very unhappy little girl. 

Elaina was crying and inconsolable, beyond reasoning with.

I was trying….  “Do you want to watch Nemo?” 

“NO!”  <sobbing>

“How about Wubbzy?”

“NO!”  <sobbing>

“Dora?”

“NO!”  <sobbing>

(Okay, now I’m out of ideas and somewhere between heartbroken and frustrated.)

“Okay…do you want to just cry some more?”

(pause, and then, each syllable a sob)

<sob>Hmm.<sob>Hmm.<sob>Hmm.

Which despite being sad, was maybe the cutest thing I’d heard in awhile.

So, having decided that what she really needed was just to cry a little longer, Elaina proceeded to do so, but without the vehemence that had come before. 

I was kneeling down in front of her and asked, “Would a hug help?”

“Noooo….”

“Okay.  That’s okay….  If you don’t think it’ll help, lets not do that.  But if you think it’ll make you feel better, you can have a hug whenever you want.”

One more sob.  Sniff.  A step sideways towards me.  Sniff.  Another step, and she leans her little shoulder into my chest.  Not a word.  No “yes”, no “no”, but nothing needed saying.