NO!

Lydia can say NO! She says NO and shakes her head clearly from side to side. Clearly, she knows exactly what it means when another spoonful of organic Chicken Risotto from Earths Best (which sounds good but really is flavorless) comes towards her mouth but suddenly when she is about to smack the laptop she doesn't have a clue what I am talking about. Well, I take that back. She has a clue. She looks up at me with a sly little smile and a devious twinkle in her eye. I can only assume that she thinks that I will cave, that somehow the universe will alter her reality and she will be allowed to eat laptops, cell phones, remote controls and dvd players.

There are those moments in which she will look at me when I say NO and she falls intentionally on her butt and smacks her arms down in a pout. She normally has a loud disgruntle sigh that comes with it. It's hard not to laugh. I am not sure how parents around the world hold it together when these tiny people are so expressive. The worst is when Eliot is across the room and he will look at me when I am trying to redirect her and he starts cracking up from afar.

It really is funny but rationally I know that Lydia eating the dvd player when she is 6 won't be funny, and she may need other kinds of treatment if that becomes a pastime. But the reason you tell your 9 month old NO! now is so she won't be one of those kids that you cringe when you know they are coming over. My mom would always tell me not to be one of those kids. She would tell me the story of two twins that lived blocks away from her when she was young and the entire neighborhood would leave their breezy front porches and hide inside so their mom wouldn't stop to chat with them. Consequently, not wanting to be that lady (how sad not to have any support group) I will tell Lydia NO! hide my tickled snicker at her cute defiance and hope she will be rational enough as she gets older not to be a nightmare.