The sound of one hand clapping

When Soen was a year old dinnertime was very stressful. Because he couldn't speak to tell us what he wanted, he would just scream. Wife finally had had enough, so she taught him the sign for "more." Suddenly the screaming stopped. The signing had another benefit, too. It seemed to connect the "language gets me things" synapse in his brain and he started talking more. Within a month, his vocabulary went from five words to 30. Sounds like an ad for teaching your kids how to sign, doesn't it? If this were a movie, the screen would fade and then the words "Three years later" would appear...

Sadie just turn a year old and is suddenly screaming a lot more around dinnertime. Well, with her, any time anyone is eating anything, she starts screaming, but we were able to detect the subtleties within her screams and we could sense that she was frustrated at not being able to express herself. So, we started with the sign language lessons and now she can sign for "more." This was a very happy day for us and we waited with bated breath for the screaming to stop. And we continue to wait.

Both kids developped their own version of the "more" sign. Soen would point his index finger at the palm of his other hand. Sadie will sometimes do that, but more often she opens and closes one hand. On some days this reminds me of Bart Simpson's response to the old Zen koan about the sound of one hand clapping. On most days, however, I am reminded of a snotty Frenchman snapping his fingers and saying, "Garcon!" Except her version of "Garcon" is "aaaaaaaaagh!!!"

The other day she was standing next to me with a cup in one hand and a safety fork in the other, screaming for more of my cereal. Being an ass, I said, "Sadie... do you want more?" Appropriately, she shot me the glare of death, slammed the fork down on the table, started one-hand-clapping in my face, and screamed.

Still no verbal communication beyond the screams, but there is progress. Today she started saying "muh muh muh" and pointing to some crackers. This is what Soen used to say. And frankly, it couldn't come at a better time because she's been doing the silent scream for even the littlest offenses. You know the silent scream: The kid is so upset about something they can't catch their breath enough to scream. It's the worst because you know it's coming and the longer the pause, the louder it's going to be. The other day I swear it was a good ten second between the first little scream and the storm surge. And that was for telling her she couldn't have my coffee.

Anyway, when Sadie isn't eating (or screaming for more food), she throws herself on pillows. I caught the tail end of it, here. What I love about this video is how she look like an old man with a cup of coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other.

Halloween

Some pics from our first Halloween in Dixie. Fun was had by all. In this picture on the right, Soen is demonstrating how a dragon sleeps in a nest of pine needles. Sadie lasted about an hour.

I had forgotten about children's boundless love of candy. Ever since we went trick or treating, my son has asked at least once a day to see his loot. He then dumps it out on our kitchen table and examines every piece, asking what each one is and then reporting what we say to the other parent. "Daddy! This one tastes like banana!" He is allowed one piece a day and man if he doesn't look forward to that piece all day long. "Daddy! This lollipop has rainbows!" It's hard to believe that in a week or so, he'll have forgotten all about his candy. Last year we wound up throwing out 90% of his goodies.