Lessons in Motherhood

This story is about Sophia, but I have to start with Josie, our border collie. Josie is the smartest little doggie I know. She’s especially good at understanding me when I say things like “Do you want to go to the park?” “Do you want to go for a walk?” “Do you want a bone?” See. Josie understands anything that starts with the words “Do you want to…” In fact, sometimes I try to mess with her and say “Josie, do you want to go to Siberia and pull a dog sled?” “Do you want the cat to jump on your head?” Regardless of what comes after the magic words, she’s always enthusiastic. She will tilt her head to the side for a split second, and then jump around like a crazy lunatic. That is Josie.

Sophia probably knows about as many words as Josie right now, and she has the same routine down. You can ask her any question, and she will immediately answer yes or no by nodding her head. We test it all the time “Sophia, do you want to go to China?” Yes “Sophia, do you want to go swimming?” No. The only questions that she can really answer are “Do you want milk?” (always yes) and “Do you want to eat?” (almost always yes). Anything else is just a wild guess as to whether the answer is yes or no. Sometimes it’s yes when asked the first time and no when asked immediately afterwards. It’s pretty entertaining, except that she’ll probably never talk. She’s too effective with the pointing and the nodding. Who says you need words at all?