From the Mayor's Desk

We all have times when we just can’t get our point across. Maybe it’s a complex issue or something very simple. But we all know that there are those frustrating moments when, no matter what we say or how we say it, we are just not understood.

We have a bout of the “me-no-comprendo’s” going on at our house right now, thanks to the most recent addition to the Jones ranch - Miss Brinley Bree Jones, 17 months old. Like most young toddlers, Brin is dealing with a limited, but growing, vocabulary that includes “cracker”, which can mean cracker, cookie or just about any other edible object; “eat” which comes up in most conversations with her as evident by her streamlined physique; “gunk”, which is a new addition to the list but most of the time means drink; and the ever popular “mommy” and “da-dee”!

In addition to these, she’s learning the importance of body language and other movements that can help get your point across, and this is where ol’ Dad is struggling. Here’s an example:

She walks to her high chair, whines a little and holds both arms above her head, which without saying a word has informed me in no uncertain terms that she would like to be placed in the seat and fed something. So, I’ll say “Brin, would you like a cracker?” She’ll shake her head ‘no’. So, I’ll continue the search. “How about some Cheerios?”, I’ll say, which is followed by a frustrated ‘no’ shaking of the head. “Maybe some marshmallows?”, which is followed by an even more emphatic ‘no’, and then I say “I wonder what she wants?”, and then her mom informs me that she wants marshmallows. “But she shook her head no”, I say, but then I’m informed that sometimes, no means yes.

Maybe it’s the fact that she’s with her more than I am, but what an interesting concept - that someone could recognize that an emphatic “no” is actually an emphatic “yes”. Hmmm, now that’s different.

We live in a world of mass communication. E-mails, voice mails, pagers, cell phones, voice messaging and wireless this and wireless that. All ways we try to be heard; an effort to stay in contact with people all around the world, day and night, night and day.

And then there is me, standing in my dining room, with our little redhead plopped in her highchair and for the life of me I don’t know if she wants crackers or marshmallows.

Where’s Dr. Phil when you need him?