Nicole has become adept at identifying a range of about three emotions. Yesterday, while we were babysitting Nicole's
cousins, she got to put her skill into practice.
Nicole's six-year-old cousin was cleaning the kitchen floor
to earn some video game time. As he came out from cleaning under the
kitchen table, he hit his back against one of the boards. Already
dispirited, having spent the past thirty minutes cleaning, he stood there and began
to cry.
Nicole pointed and observed aloud, “Sad, Mama!
Sad!” So her cousin soon stopped crying and resumed sitting on the
floor, wiping it despondently with a rag. Nicole declared, “Happy,
Mama! Happy!” Then, I guess that made her cousin sad, so he
started to pout. Nicole brightly announced, “Sad! Sad, Mama!”
He lowered his chin and stopped pouting, and Nicole crawled up to him, crouching for a better look at his face, then announced,
“Happy!” Her cousin resumed his dejected demeanor, turning away
from her. Nicole crawled after him and, needing only a few inches of personal space herself, gave a close inspection of his face and reported, “Sad, Mama! Sad!” He must have
changed his face again, because soon after, she proclaimed, “Happy,
Mama!”
This went on for some time, as Nicole's cousin tried to
turn away from her to escape the humiliation of a two-year-old giving
a play-by-play of his emotions. However, each time, Nicole
diligently followed him, inches from his face, so as
to give an accurate account of his present emotional state--which,
according to Nicole, steadily fluctuated between “happy” and
“sad.”
- Carly
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