Yes, No, Uh Oh!

If there was any doubt that our almost-one-year-old understands everything we say to him, that was erased last night. At one point during dinner, Nate started to take a piece of tofu and drop it overboard for Tucker. I saw what was going on and said sharply “No!” He moved his hand back over the tray, and I said sweetly “yes!” Then proceeded a good solid 5 minutes of hand going back and forth, yes, no, yes, no, yes, no. Daddy was saying it with us, then took over. Yes, no, yes, no, hand over tray, hand over floor. All four of us were cracking up as this happened. Finally, Alex said “do me!” and held his hand out over the floor (without even any food to drop in it; that’s how far removed from the original discipline our game had become). No! Alex moved his hand in. Yes! Alex started to move his hand out and BAM! He accidentally swiped his cup of milk off of the table and all over the wall and floor.

And, good parents that we are, Mike and I burst out in uncontrollable laughter. Uh oh!

It was truly unintended (though if we had been paying a bit more attention, inevitable given how close to the edge the cup was to begin with) so we finally gained composure and Mike cleaned the walls while Alex cleaned the floor. Game over. But our spirits were pretty light the rest of the evening, and that was worth even the spilled milk!