Junk food works wonders

So it's not so great for her health, but when I opened my bag of barbecue chips tonight, Katie Mei decided to use all the sign language she's ever learned to get some. We tried while we were in China to teach her to sign "more" and "please" and "thank you". And guess who absolutely refused to use any sign language and would rather go hungry than sign for more?

Well, tonight, she changed her mind. I sat down with my chips as she ate her (boring) Kix cereal, and she immediately dropped the bag and started babbling something I couldn't understand. I reminded her that she could not have the chips because they were Momma's and that she had her own snack. Then she sat quiet for a few seconds as I turned back to the TV, munching away on my chips. After a minute I realized she was saying something else and I turned to find her signing for "more" and quietly saying "mo, mo". How could I refuse??? After three months of trying to get her to do this, I could hardly deny her the reward for communicating so effectively.

Of course, this had to happen on the one day I allowed her to get to her limit of 20 grams of total fat on her low-fat diet. She had a hot dog today instead of all the boring healthier food. I even had to get the nurse to call it in, becuase the cafeteria refused to send up a hot dog for a two-year old without direct orders for a health-care professional (choking hazard, you know.... They argue about giving her peanut butter sandwhiches, too.) So she had 15 (yes, hot dogs are apparently loaded with fat here!) out of her possible 20 grams. And then with the other foods she ate, she was at 19.5 grams for the day. So I only let her have the tiniest chips, and she very eagerly continued with the sign language. I was so delighted!

Now I'm wondering if she'll keep doing it knowing that it gets her what she wants. We'll add in the sign for water tomorrow and see if she picks it up.

Love,
Pet