Very funny Daddy!

Lately Kylie has been learning signs with an amazing speed! We can show her something one time and she has it down, even if we don't ask her the sign again for a week.

So Daddy must have forgotten her amazing ability to pick up on new "words." One night last week my mom came over for dinner and Kylie had half of a banana with her meal. After we finished the dishes she kept looking up on the counter where the fruit bowl sits and pointing while making this really funny little squeal-grunt. We finally figured out that she wanted the rest of the banana. As I started to hand her the prized fruit, my mom said, "I wonder what the sign for banana is?" Ian, true to his frequent comical/cheesy side thought back to his childhood days and responded by making the universally accepted sign for "call me" and held his pinky to his ear. (Come on now, I don't remember if it was Sesame Street or Electric Company, but those of you in our generation should remember the characters that claimed, "I can't hear you, I have a banana in my ear!") We three adults laughed and then shrugged our shoulders because none of us knew the sign. However we have little eyes watching ~ instead of ears listening ~ and yesterday afternoon Kylie was coming down the stairs after her nap smashing a thumb into her ear.

My thinking was, "Oh great, intestinal issues last week and now an ear infection?" By the time we got downstairs she had both thumbs in both ears and I was worrying about a double ear infection. She started squeal/grunting and asking to be held, so I picked her up thinking that her ears must really be bothering her. Then she pointed to the fruit bowl and I got it ~ she had an afternoon snack of a banana!

This morning I happened to be standing within reach of the camera when she asked again. To the casual bystander it may look like Kylie is complaining of ear pain, but to the trained experts we realize it is a simple request for a banana... Sadly the fruit bowl was empty of her current favorite, so I had to offer her a plum instead. She ate it without complaining, but I felt bad about the bananas after such a polite request, so during our errand run today (we had to go to FedEx to drop off our 6 month post placement report) we stopped at the grocery and got some bananas.

And during our family date night at Salsarita's, Kylie munched on green beans dipped in ranch dressing, some left over chicken from last night, and of course, a banana. I told Ian about how she signs for bananas now and just to be sure he asked her what she was eating. She couldn't be bothered to look at the camera ~ or put down her fruit ~ but sure enough, she signed it! I guess we're gonna have to be careful what signs we use around her these days!

"Sorry Daddy, I can't hear you, I have a banana in my ear!"