Some recent sample dialogue from our child...
Sample 1
Babydaddy: Hey Jos, how about some delicious blueberry waffle.
Jos: Nu-nu-nu-nu.
BD: What about yogurt. Mmmmm. You love yogurt.
Jos [shaking head vehemently]: Nu!
Sample 2
Babymamma: It's time to pick up the toys! It's time to pick up the toys so we can take a bath with papa! Yay!
Jos: Nu-nu-nu-nu.
BM: Come on, Jos. We do this every night! It's fun!
Jos: Nu.
Sample 3
Babydaddy: Hey Josie! Mommy thinks daddy is too judgmental and that he's a cheapskate. Do you?
Jos: Nu-nu-nu!
Babymamma: That's so interesting! Because daddy says mommy is a first-world princess, even though she's the one who does all the work around here, while he sits on his throne upstairs eating Tootsie Rolls. Do you agree with papa?
Jos: Nu.
So I think you can see the point here. We're an incredibly psychologically healthy family, who should probably author a book on child rearing immediately.
Also, we've reached what the experts call the "oppositional" phase of toddlerdom.
It happened so quickly. One minute, Josie was our little angel, sounding out words like "apple" and "yellow" and innocently chewing on pens that turned her entire tongue blue, and the next she was this ... whirlwind of negativity, casting her playa-hater energy around the house like so much stray tinsel.
But we can't say this is entirely shocking. After all, Josie has never approved of the basic power dynamic of babydom. She's always felt that she was in charge at all times, and merely lacked the means to express her will. No (or, if you prefer, as Josie does, the exotically Yiddish sounding Nu) has transformed her world. She can now clearly define and vocalize anything undesirable, such as her father attempting to kiss her at a time she does not wish to be kissed, or her sudden and unapproved removal from proximity to the cat. Nu!
It's a great rhetorical strategy, very to-the-point, and one that Babymamma and I really haven't figured out how to deal with. Josie doesn't want to be reasoned with. She doesn't want to argue. And anyway, we don't want to turn her into one of those little litigator babies, with a million extenuating clauses at the ready. So she's basically kicking our ass with a single word, at this point. And, of course, it doesn't help that she looks like this:
So it's the old pre-Christmas rope of love we're throwing out. Any advice on how to respond to "No" much appreciated. Or, if you want, you can signify your refusal to offer advice by just typing ... nu.
