No!

Lately, Alina has been saying "No" when she means "Yes". I really hope she straightens this out before she starts dating. For example, we'll ask her if she wants a banana, and she'll say No but take it from our hands anyway. Our running theory is that she is hears No so much more often, its kind of sunk in. We actually caught her giving Elmo a time out. She sat him down against the wall, pointed at him and said No, then walked two steps, turned around and said No again with the same accusatory pointing finger. That finger part is probably my doing. We say no a lot but I make sure to use the finger when I mean it, so she knows the difference between a little no and Big No. In addition to punishment, she has been feeding her stuffed animals food and giving them her bottle. Katrina wanted to buy a little doll baby for her but those things just creep me out - especially when a baby is doing the feeding. It just feels so wrong. I'm contented to watch a stuffed Muppet or farm animal get fed instead. And it's not always edible. Alina took her mother's birthday rose and fed the petals to an open-mouthed toy as well. It was like she was attempting some kind of ironic mummification.