On the Importance of Being Perceptive.
The following is a passage from The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Bringing up Baby.
Your infant still cannot communicate through words, but she has other means of letting you know what she thinks, feels, or wants. Crying, of course, still serves your baby well as a means of communicating her needs. By around five months, however, your baby begins to communicate in other nonverbal ways. She also increasingly uses facial expressions and gestures to get her message across.
Your baby may scrunch up her face when presented with a new food. She may frown when something puzzles her (as so many things do). She will open her mouth wide with surprise. She may stick out her tongue and make a “blah” face if something displeases her.
Had I read the next book, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Parenting a Preschooler and Toddler, maybe I would have realized the importance of paying attention to those nonverbal cues long after a child has become a fluent speaker. Let’s examine the body language exhibited by the preschooler in the photo below.
It seems this is the nonverbal signal that says, “I’m approximately 30 seconds from puking right here in this blasted car seat. Does this look like a photo op?” I wish I had known.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:18 pm
Luckily it has been a long time since Jack or C puked in their car seat. But I had plenty of warning with Jack’s last spew over a year and a half ago. He complained, over and over, of a tummyache, and I blew it off. Opened the window. So when he projectile vomited all over the back seat of my then brand new forerunner, I had only myself to blame.
November 12th, 2009 at 9:53 am
I looked at the picture before I read the post and thought she looks like she is going to puke! Many, many experiences with that same expression from Nate
November 13th, 2009 at 2:23 pm
All I can think while looking at that photo is that the kid looks EXACTLY like you.
November 13th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
I was actually really lucky. She held it in her mouth and waited until I grabbed her a Sonic sack. That’s true skill. She seems to be better at reading nonverbals than I am, because I had the same bug the next day, and at one point, she looked at me and went and grabbed me a bucket. I ended up making use of that bucket no more than 15 minutes later. More skills!
Lara. I KNOW. She’s got a better nose and slightly more youthful skin, though.
Sometimes when she has her hair pulled back by that, I catch a glimpse and am startled by how much she looks like me. I heard nothing but how much she looked just like Chris for the first two years of her life, so it’s still possible for Lily to turn into a mini you!