Please

Kody and I have been teaching Miss Kailee sign language. Right now she can sign four words and we are working with her on a few more. One of the words she uses frequently is "please." But she doesn't exactly use it the way it's meant to be used. To Kailee, the word "please" means "I want that, give it to me now." When she sees something she wants she points at it and then slaps her chest (her sign for please) and gives you about five seconds to respond before she goes into a dramatic fit of rage. But at least she says please, right?

This week Kailee and I went to visit a neighbor for about an hour. Kailee played on the floor with all the new toys and kids and had a great time until she got hungry and it was time to go home.

Now Miss Kailee loves crackers. Mostly club crackers, but really any kind will do. She calls them "dat-dow" and always makes sure to sign "please" when she sees them sitting on the counter or on a shelf.

As I collected Miss Kailee and our things to leave, she spotted a box of graham crackers on our neighbor's counter. She could tell they were crackers just by looking at the box. And she wanted them. She looked at me, pointed at the box, signed "please," and said "dat-dow" in her innocent little voice. Then she waited for me to fetch her one. But I didn't. She looked at me very urgently, signed "please" again, and said "dat-dow" a little louder. I ignored her. Now she was getting upset. Her little hands flew up in the air and she collapsed in squeals of fury and utter despair. She screamed, "DAT-DOW! DAT-DOW!" while beating her chest. I quickly said goodbye and left the house while Kailee desperately howled "DAT-DOW!!" and continued slapping her chest as hard as she could.

When we got home, Kailee had not recovered from her tantrum. Kody has given me strict instructions to send her to her bed when we have these little incidents. So into bed she went. When I went to check on her a little later, she looked something like this:


I think she was dreaming of dat-dows.