Communication Failure

Anna's had the stomach flu before of course, and last time she gave it to us too, which resulted in a house of horror for two days when none of us could get down the stairs to the kitchen without puking. Good times.

The main difference this time is that she can communicate better, and that's what's so heartbreaking. We've had to limit her fluid intake, as it's one of the reasons she's throwing up so often. Apparently we have to trick her stomach in to thinking there's nothing there by giving her tiny sips every couple of hours. The poor thing is so thirsty she actually strung words together for the first time in her effort to communicate. She said 'Anna yaya pease' - Anna water please.

It seems the cruelest irony, that you spend the first year of their life desperate to get them to talk to you, with words or by sign language, and now that she's able to do both all we seem to say is 'I hear you but no'. It's so unfair. The other day - before the plague hit, she was trying to ask for a cookie. She said cookie repeatedly, until in a fit of desperation she started resorting to sign language too, as if to say 'damn it lady, why can't I get this through to you'. The same was true with the request for water last night. It was a massive milestone for her to be able to use more than one word at a time, and yet I still couldn't give her what she'd asked for. That's the killer.

So now, in a huge reversal from my usual sarcastic, irreverent self, because I'm feeling overly sentimental at that husk of a baby I have sleeping on the bed, here is a list of Anna pronunciations that I would hate to ever forget;

Ya-ya = Water
Shadow = Flower - WTF Anna?
Flamininmoe = Flamingo - good attempt
Ass = Raf - our friend, he's none too happy about this pronunciation
Melmo = Elmo
Show = Baby Einstein
Babbit = Rabbit
Bobot = Robot

Also, if you say 'I love you' she says 'you do?'.

Wow, that was a saccharine post even for me. Sorry everybody.