Read My Lips

Through exaggerated lip movement, elaborate pantomiming, and a bit of writing, Blythe let us know this morning she had lost her voice.  She spoke not one word from the time she woke until the time Kent dropper her off at school.  She wrote me that I was to call her teacher and let her know.  Instead, I texted Miss Medaris to tell her she absolutely did NOT have to play this game with Blythe.  Here is what I wrote:

Blythe is on a no speaking kick this morning.  She claims she's lost her voice.  Kent thinks she's darling; I think she's irritating (can I say that about my own child?).  Please do not think you have to put up with that for even a moment.  Non-cooperators go right to the principal's office, don't they?  Do whatever you need to do.  I'm fully supportive.

I wonder if I should be concerned about this obviously cry for attention.  Does she need me to take her to lunch so she feels I really do notice her?  Perhaps I should play along, waving my own hands around, and just enjoy the quiet.

I didn't hear anything back from Miss Medaris through the day, and when I picked Blythe up from school, she was talking.  I said, "Oh! You found your voice!  Where was it?"

"It was under the rug," she replied.  We didn't say anything more about it.

I did finally hear back from Miss Medaris well after school.  She texted me back the following:

First, your text made me giggle.  Then Blythe made me giggle when she mouthed things (silently) to me for the first 30 minutes of school.  Haha!  I told Blythe I needed to hear her for reading, etc.  That didn't work, so I told her if she couldn't read aloud and speak to me, she would probably need to miss PE or recess, but I'd give her time to think about if she wanted to miss one of those.  Within a few minutes, her voice was magically back!  What a cute and determined girl.

Cute and determined are definitely good descriptor words for our Blythe.