Nooooo: a politeness win

So lately Jolly has discovered "No".

It's obvious that we no longer ask rhetorical questions like "Would you like to [x]?" about things which are actually required. And for things that are optional, we try to say "Would you like to [x] or [y]?" because binary choices seem to work a lot better. I just assume that his "noooooo" is to the last one, so then we do the first option. Works great!

The funny thing is that "no" is the first word that is so important that it's being used concurrently in English AND German. Everything else is a merry patchwork of English and German right now, with new words being added all the time.

The REALLY funny thing is that he thinks that the German for "No!" is "Nein, danke!" which is actually "No, thank you!" Nothing takes the sails out of a tantrum than when it involves screeching "NO THANK YOU NO THANK YOU NO THANK YOU" rather than "No No NO." I consider this to be a major politeness win on my part. Modelling good behavior: it works, even when your child does not understand what is going on. :)

Other things that Jolly is doing in a very polite way these days:

- Drinking tea from a tea cup. We have frequent imperious commands for "Tee!" happening and I am happy to meet them, with decaf teas. It's a fun ritual and it's really cute to see him sipping properly out of a cup.

- Eating. Sometimes he grabs our cutlery and grabs the knife in the right hand and the fork in the left hand and then tries to mimic the cutting up process. I'm really pleased, since a lot of grown ups I know can't handle the simultaneous fork-and-knife style and even though he's just play acting at it now, it seems like he's really going to be getting it soon. We just need to find some kiddy-sized knives, which NO ONE seems to make since apparently kids have their food cut up for them... or maybe the toddler plus knife combination doesn't strike people as winning for other reasons. Pish tosh!

- Napkin useage. When he spills he MOPS IT UP with a napkin, and he dabs at his face with a napkin when there's liquid (say tea) on his lip. Hilarious and very very helpful at the same time.


So, all in all, I think given our child's age we're meeting the etiquette standards as well as Emily Post could possibly expect. For a toddler!

Things we're working on: "Bitte" ("Please"). He does imitate the intonation of it, but it's more of a "Uhuh?" right now, which is cute but not quite there yet.

Llamas are still awesome. We're all doing well and journeying slowly but surely into spring!