I have been very concerned with Jonas’ speech development over the past year. All the books said he should be making 2 word phrases out of about 50 words at twenty-four months and he had about 10 almost unintelligible words, none of which were forming any intelligent pairs. We had his hearing tested but he was fine. He was just a late talker. Now he is still a bit behind, but his vocabulary is growing every day. Last night as we were working on the bedtime routine my husband left the room to go find the scriptures for our daily scripture study. Jonas turned to me and asked, “where’s the scriptures?” I about keeled over. He has gone from one word babbles to full sentences almost over night. I think I was duped.

I have always known Jonas was smart. He can run the DVD player and surround sound system better than I can. He has always been able to figure stuff out, take things apart, and find a way around any childproofing strategy I could devise. But, for the past two years I have been continually second guessing myself, wondering if he could really understand me when I was chewing him out for his many infractions or making a reasonable request. He would cock his head like a little puppy, all innocence and sweetness, giggle and go merrily on his way. Did I get through to him? I had no idea. Not only did I get through - but he knew exactly how to get around me. Play dumb he decided. If all I give her is my name, rank, and serial number, that’s all she’ll think I know.

And it worked.