my mom sent out a little package for pace. one of the items inside was an adorable stuffed monkey--and she packed it so its face was looking straight up at you when you opened the box. pace thought this was the coolest thing on earth! he pulled it out and immediately gave it a hug and cuddle, as with all things small, soft, and stuffed. one morning i thought i'd try and get pace giving his monkey a kiss to send photos to my mom. the first time he kissed it, i was a millisecond too slow catching it on the camera, and when i asked pace to do it again, he simply replied, "no."
yes, pace has mastered replying "no": "pace, have one last bite of dinner." "no." "pace, come upstairs to brush teeth and get ready for bed." "no." "pace, are you thirsty? would you like a drink?" "no." and he does it in such a simple, sweet voice--he isn't being naughty, or demanding, or overtly disobedient--he's honestly communicating. so what can you do?! we try to rephrase it, or turn it into a game, which has worked so far...
so when i tried to get him to kiss the monkey a second time, i had to turn it into a hide-and-seek game with the monkey hiding behind the corner of the wall, and coax pace into coming over and playing with the monkey. he ran away the first few times the monkey popped out from behind the corner, then he became interested in pointing out the monkey's eyes, nose, and mouth, and then--finally--winner!
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