G babbles from morning until night, and it's all very important, pressing business. She has tons of words, and learns a new one almost everyday. For example, when I am getting her dressed in the morning, she lies on the changing table screaming "zsoo, zsooooo!!" Which is "shoe" for all you uneducated in 19 month old-ease. G is such a girlie girl, she wants the whole, complete outfit before going out to face the day. She also knows that shoes, plus a jacket equal going somewhere, and that is the twins' one and only goal in the morning. When they see me getting dressed, they go half-crazy trying to figure out if they get to go, too, and then if the poor baby-sitter shows up, she's welcomed with screams, since they now know the truth. They will go no where, and they will like it.
J.D., on the other hand, is a little stunted in the old language department. He just screams if something doesn't go his way, and he says "Da Da" like a thousand times and day, but that's about it. Oh yeah, and "cack-o," which is, of course, "cracker." That boy loves a good cracker. My friends with boys all say this is totally normal. Boys are just a little slow, in fact, apparently, they never really catch up to girls. We start out talking more than them, and that's just a race they're never going to win.
Anyway, another type of communication is body language. This is mainly how the twins choose to communicate. Just a look, a touch, a gesture, is all they really need to know to figure out how the other is feeling or thinking.
To illustrate the twins' use of body language, here's the twins having a gentle disagreement over markers.
G found them first, and she guards them close to her body, aware of impending threats.
J.D. enters the scene, and they agree to play in two adjoining camps.
Playtime is peaceful, calm and full of wonderful, sharing moments. I am on the lookout for markers in the mouth. That's all I really care about.
J.D. has all the markers now. Suddenly, (and I didn't get this shot, dang it!), G sees the full marker can, bolts for it, swipes it out from under his nose and high-tails it, as only G can.
J.D. is slow to re-cover, but his wrath is apparent. She is running quite quickly here, as her little blurred bunny tail indicates.
J.D. admits defeat, and feigns interest in a princess book (which he has never touched, except to step on, in his whole life).
Then he decides to go for it. The tapping of the markers hitting the bottom of the can is too much to bear. He sees me. He sees the camera. He pauses.
Then he goes in for the kill, without a care in the world for the consequences. He grabs her arms, and apparently enjoys this little exchange, while she tries in vain, to make a run for it.
Mom intervenes, saying, "No no!" He drops to the floor in a very dramatic statement, and cries for 25 seconds. 
Then he gets up and is like, "Fine, you have the markers, I'll enjoy these beautiful pink beads." This is so cold! G loves those beads, and he knows it! 
He totally knows what he's doing. Then he gets distracted playing with his toolset and truly forgets about the markers.
G happily welcomes E for some wonderful, harmonious, girly, give and take play. They are both 100% in their element.
Another sister joins the game. All is well.
Even with J.D.
G happily welcomes E for some wonderful, harmonious, girly, give and take play. They are both 100% in their element.
Another sister joins the game. All is well.
Even with J.D. That's G's sippy. He knows it. He is nonverbally saying, "So what about those stinkin' markers! I have your sippy, and it's full of delicious apple juice.
Just wait 'til next time, sis."
1 comment:
That was a fun one to read.
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