Journal Excerpt

This is how a typical conversation goes:

[E screaming and whining at dinner]
“E, mommy can’t tell what you want. What do you want?”
[E becomes very serious and quiet]
“Dah.”
“What? What’s ‘dah’?”
“Dah.” [points vaguely] “Dah.”
“E, mommy doesn’t know; what’s ‘dah’?”
I start pointing to everything I can see.
“Is it this?” [shakes her head] “This?” [shakes her head] “This?” [shakes her head]
[whining resumes]
D: “Oh, she wants the tomatoes.”
“What? What tomatoes?”
“The ones sitting behind the tissue and the pot of soup and the napkins on the other side of the table where you can’t see.”
“Oh. Obviously.”
I give them to her. She starts getting all happy.
“DAH!”