"Shore!"

Makena's been really enjoying the Signing Time dvd's we've been checking out from the library. She recently learned the signs for the colors of the rainbow, and lots of fruits, veggies, animals and other stuff. Sometimes she struggles to get her fingers the right way, and sometimes when we try to correct her she gets frustrated and says, "Me can't do!" I love learning the signs with her, and the songs are so fun and catchy! While her speech is getting better each day there are still times we have no idea what she's saying, and when she can use a sign to help it's so helpful for all of us.

The other day we were looking at her 2nd birthday party photo book. She started to say something and I asked her to repeat it but still didn't catch what she was saying. Then she got sad and was close to crying, so I asked her to show me what she was saying, and I finally realized she was asking where her Mickey Mouse Clubhouse playset was, and saying she was sad because she didn't have her Mickey Clubhouse anymore. "Me no have me Mih-ee tub-how any mo!"

Then today we were playing and she asked me for something that I didn't understand. Over and over she repeated the word "shore" and I kept trying to decipher it. She stood up and started moving her hands above her head, losing more and more hope because I just couldn't figure it out. I asked her to use a sign and she repeated "shore!" and kept putting her hand up. I asked her if she could show me it somewhere, in a book or toy or photo? And then she got really discouraged. I apologized, I tried guessing lots of things, I encouraged her to keep trying. She was nearing a point of giving up. How frustrating to not be able to communicate something. Why couldn't I just read her mind?? I asked her again to show me the "shore" in a new way, and then she stood next to her play kitchen, held a blanket over head, and asked me to build a fort. I clapped with joy when I finally got it. "Yay! Oh Makena, you did such a good job helping mommy understand! We did it! Let's build a fort, what a good idea!" And then she grabbed me for a hug and burst into tears. Sobbing in the saddest little voice, "Me no how do it, me no say shore." (I didn't know how to do it, I didn't say fort.)  She was so so sad and asked for milk. We sat on the couch and she nursed and I told her again how proud I was that she kept trying and that I'm sorry I don't always understand, buy I do always try to. And how exciting it is when I get it. She kept crying and I tried to distract her to get off me by talking about the cool fort we'd build, but she said not right now, later.

So I put a blanket over both our heads and said, "Okay. I think maybe you just want to feel close to me and connected because we had a hard time just now. So how about we make a milk fort first?!" Which she thought was hilarious and we sat like that for a while. Then we spent almost 2 hours inside a really awesome fort, drawing pictures and doing puzzles and reading books with flashlights.