You Are Correct!

So, all week long when Haley gets home she says "School tomorrow?"

And I answer "Yes, there is school tomorrow."

Then she says "Stay home."

I say "You can stay home on Saturday."

She says "Sunday."

I say "Well, yes, you will stay home on Sunday too."

"School tomorrow?"

"Yes, you have school tomorrow."  I say.  Then I usually head her off by asking her about her day or asking her to put her shoes away or sometimes I just clap and say "Yay!"

Well, today when she got home I thought it would be fun to turn the tables on her.  I said "Do you have school tomorrow?"

And she said "Yeah."

I said "No, Haley, there is no school tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Saturday." 

She said "Yay!  Stay home!"

I said "Yes, you will stay home tomorrow."

A little while later her Dad came downstairs and said "Haley, is there school tomorrow?"

She said "Yeah."

He said "No.  There is no school tomorrow, it is Saturday."  Then he asked her again.  "Do you have school tomorrow?"

She said "Yeah." again.  Then he said "No, you don't have school tomorrow."

Well, then I got in on the act and I asked her to repeat after me.  I said No.  I asked her if she could say No.  She seems to have a problem with the word No.  Eventually we got her to say it.  Then we asked her again.  "Haley, is there school tomorrow?"

She sheepishly replied "No."

We both yelled and jumped up and down.  I gave her a high five and we danced around hugging.  Then of course, her Dad asked her again.

And again she said "No."

We did it all over again.  We had gotten through to her.

The test came when her Big Sis got home about fifteen minutes later.  When she had come in to the kitchen and greeted her sister I asked Haley the question one more time.  She said "No."  I whooped and hollered and jumped around.  Her sister gave me a look, but she got it.  She knows the history with that word.  She asked her several times and each time she answered correctly.  Then she asked her if there will be school on Monday.

Haley said "No."

We both told her that she did in fact have school on Monday.  Then Big Sis asked her about the following Friday, which is a conference day. 

Haley said "Yeah."

Big Sis said "No."

I said "I think you are confusing her."

She asked her about tomorrow a couple more times.  Then I decided to record her. 

I wanted proof!

While we were on vacation, visiting Haley's grandparents we went to Port Townsend for the express purpose of riding the new ferry.

When we got there it was lunchtime.

We went to a restaurant on the main drag, it was wonderful. We had the best fish and chips and Haley was really good. She fed herself and was very well behaved, she even used the restroom.

We walked around town a little, but it was really cold and windy. We needed to move the Yukon closer to the ferry terminal so we all piled back in.  Haley was riding in the very back with her sister. We drove down the street and found another parking spot and stopped. I got out and was standing in the parking lot adjusting my earmuffs and my gloves when my husband called to me.

He said he needed my help, Haley wouldn't get out of the car.

I went over to the car and looked in. Haley and her sister were still in the back seat. I said "Come on Haley it's time to get out."

She said "No."

I laughed, I couldn't help it, this child agrees to everything. If I ask her anything she says "Yeah." Even nonsense questions get a "Yeah." Haley's Sis said "I asked her to get out and she said 'no.'  She even shook her head like this." Haley's Sis shook her head, it was the universally recognized gesture that meant No.

I ended up grabbing her leg and pulling. I didn't really pull her out of the car, but I think she got the gist that I wasn't going to take "no" for an answer and she reluctantly came along. As we walked to the terminal Haley continuted to make her objections. She just kept saying "no," as I explained to her what we were going to do.

When it was time to get on the ferry she started getting hysterical. She was crying and shouting "No!" and I was kind of getting freaked out.

There have been times in my life when I really didn't want to do something; times that I almost felt I had a premonition that something bad would happen. I don't know if that is the way Haley was feeling, but her reluctance was starting to get to me.  It had been really windy in the last couple of days and there was some question that the ferry would even be running when we got there.  There were signs around the terminal that said something to the effect that if there was rough weather the ferry may not run and that walk on passengers could be stranded.  The water was choppy.  I was already a bit nervous myself. 

I was strong, however, I just kept pushing her on to the ferry.
She seemed scared, but her Grandma was standing right next to her and that seemed to help a little.  I sat down in a chair and asked her to come and sit with me.  She wouldn't move.  She had taken hold of the steel divider between the windows and was holding on for dear life.

She watched as her Dad stood outside the glass and took pictures.  He was taking pictures of the dock and the ferry and turning to take pictures of us.  It seemed to calm her down a little.  He came in and asked us if we wanted to walk around and check out the new ferry. 

Again Haley was reluctant, but I nudged her along. 

We went up one more level and found ourselves in an area that housed the elevator and the stairway.  Haley looked out the window at this point and said "Pretty."  I agreed that the view was pretty and we stood there for some time.  Grandpa came to stand next to us and talked to Haley a little while.  The ferry made a wide turn and I started to get a little queasy.  I told Haley that I wanted to go down the stairs and sit a little while.  She let me lead her.

When we got to our destination we had to get off the ferry.  I got nervous because we would have to turn right around and get back on in a few minutes and I didn't want a repeat of the last time.  As soon as we got off the ferry Haley said "Fun."  Then she indicated that she needed to use the restroom.  We went in and I discovered that she was wet. 

These days she is wearing an overnight pull-up and they don't have Velcro sides so I have to take off her pants and her shoes to change them.  I was in the middle of that process when Haley's Sis came in and said it was time to get back on the ferry. 

I started sweating.

I tried to hurry as much as I could and we rushed out of the bathroom and onto the ferry.  I didn't have time for protests.  I think Haley was aware of that.  We got back on and we sat down at one of the booths.  We stayed there the whole ride back and Haley rode without saying much, every once in a while she would look out the window and say "Pretty."

When we docked and got off the ferry she said "Fun."

So I don't know if she was scared, if she thought we should have headed back to Grandma and Grandpa's house after lunch or if she was just cold.  She didn't want to go on that ferry, but apparently she was glad she did.