31 for 21: Jaycee "Says" Some Funny Stuff

Happy Witty Wednesday! Today, I will attempt to be humorous in my 31 days of blogging for Trisomy 21 challenge.

Though my daughter is minimally verbal, she still communicates. She uses a few words, novel gestures, sign language, and her speech generating communication device. Like any child, Jaycee sometimes "says" some funny things. Here's a few things that stick out to me:

• When Jaycee was in pre-school, I would ask her "Do you have any pets?"  Instead of saying no, Jaycee said on her talker, "Wonder Pets."
• If I'm telling a story and get too loud, Jaycee will sign "Mommy mad." For mad, Jaycee will put her hands on hips and do a sigh. It's super cute.
• We have a family friend named Rusty. When Jaycee was little, she started signing "Thirsty" whenever she saw Rusty. To this day, Rusty is still "Thirsty" to Jaycee.
• We were at a party once and Jaycee was stuffing her face with the yummy cake. The person who made the cake asked Jaycee if she liked it. Jaycee answered on her device "awful" and continued to eat the cake as fast as she could. (I was embarrassed.)
• Sometimes Elijah doesn't want to eat his dinner, so he gets in trouble. Jaycee will often say using her talker, "Elijah time out."
• Jaycee loves the name Rachael and uses the Rachael name sign from the "Signing Time" DVD series. There have been several times when Jaycee has met a baby, a woman, or an animal and asked me if their name was "Rachael." Or sometimes she'll continue to call someone Rachael even if she knows it's not right.
• We ate at Cracker Barrel for breakfast one morning. I don't remember what Jaycee was eating, but I had white gravy with my breakfast. Jaycee kept eyeing my gravy and wanted a bite. She kept signing "mashed potatoes" for the gravy. After she ate most of my gravy, she remarked that those mashed potatoes were "delicious."
• At Six Flags this summer, I rode with Jaycee on a swing ride that went extremely high. I was a little scared and may have screamed a few times. Jaycee laughed and enjoyed it. When my husband asked Jaycee how the ride was, she signed "Mommy was scared."
• Sometimes, I will whisper in Jaycee's ear a little secret and tell her not to tell dad, who is sitting next to her. She will immediately lean over and whisper in dad's ear some babblings like "bababa dadada" and then smile at me. She loves doing that!

Photo: A sentence Jaycee said on her talker