Sign Language Can Be Confusing

Kate continues to use hand signals to ask some of her questions. Most of the time I understand what she is asking, but not always. Take this morning, for example. We were waiting at a stop light on the way to Panera when she looked at me and pointed in the direction of her cup sitting in the holder of the console. She also had the lid of the cup in her hand. I thought she was asking whether or not to take her cup into Panera, but that is something she is more likely to ask when we arrive at another restaurant. She gave me a disconcerted (irritated) look, and I told her I didn’t know what she wanted. That prompted another look. Then I realized that what she wanted was a napkin. I try to keep them in the car to wipe the saliva from her mouth. (She still doesn’t swallow her saliva.) When I realized that was what she wanted, I opened the console and gave her a napkin. Then I said, “I thought you wanted something to do with your cup.” She said, “Nice try, but I’m not going to let you get away with that.” I said, “Well, I usually do a pretty good job.” She smiled and said, “Yes, you do.”