Being a SAHM (stay at home mommy), Sarah feeds Tyler most of his meals. She also changes most of his diapers, reads him most of his books, and plays with his toys most of the time.

Recently, while Sarah was outside doing some gardening, I brought Tyler in for a late lunch. I feel a little "out of my element" when doing so, because I don’t really know how much food to give him. Luckily, he knows the signs for "more", "all done", and "hungry". He doesn’t perform the signs perfectly though. As a comparison, I’d say it’s as if he’s speaking in a heavy Southern drawl. We can understand him, but he’s not really saying it right*. "All done" should look like this. Tyler’s version is more of a waving of both hands. "Hungry" should look like this (actually, I’m linking to "eat", because that’s what we use). Tyler’s rendition involves him putting his index finger against his mouth. We don’t try to correct him because he won’t be signing much longer.

Sarah’s a big advocate of letting Tyler feed himself. I should be, too. I. Really. Should. Be. The only way he’s going to learn is through practice. But, when he feeds himself, this happens…

 
See also, the mega-adorable picture at the top of this post.

On this particular afternoon, I was feeding Tyler some chicken, broccoli and squash. He pointed to the bowl of grapes on the table and informed me of his desire to consume said deliciousness.

"DAT!"

"You can have a grape after this bite of chicken."

"DAT, DAT!"

"Tyler, eat this bite, and then you can have a grape."

Tyler refused to open his mouth for me. Crossroads, I thought. I plucked a grape off the bunch and held it up.

"TyTy. You can have this grape," I wiggled the grape, "after you eat this bite," I wiggled the fork in my other hand. As soon as I moved the fork towards his mouth, he clamped it shut.

Defeated after a few more attempts at teaching him this new term, I gave him the grape and placed a small bunch on his tray. A few moments later, Sarah came in for some refreshing ice water.

"I can’t wait for Tyler to learn what ‘and then’ means. I want to tell him to eat some chicken and then he can have a g-r-a-p-e." I had to spell grape, because it’s one of the forbidden words in our house. You can’t say it unless you are prepared to hand him a few. I tried Pig-Latin, but there’s something off-putting about saying rape-gays.

"Tyler already knows what ‘and then’ means. I do that with him every day."

Not knowing who was lying to me, I said, "Seriously?"

"Yep. He knows it and understands it. You just got played."

I looked back at Tyler and asked him.

"TyTy, did you just play me?"

Tyler turned to face me and laughed!**

This marks the second time that Tyler has “played” us/me like a fiddle. Little boogersnot. This is where communication is key. It’s only a matter of time before he comes up to me and says, “Dad, mom said it’s ok if I stay the night at Todd’s house if it’s ok with you.”

Riiiiiiiiiight. Sure she did buddy.

** I swear I’m not making this up.