Use Your Whisper Voice

In spite of our best efforts, Jemma doesn't really have an "inside voice."  She still speaks haltingly and loudly, so much so that I have declared a few times to Jason that we should have her hearing tested.  (He thinks that, like himself, she tunes out what she isn't interested in hearing.)  

This morning in church, I had her on my lap, where she was happily and quietly eating her Cheerios.  She looked back over my shoulder, then, at a man sitting behind me.  Loudly, she asked, "What Is That Man?"  

"I don't know," I whispered.  "Just a man at church."

She looked at him again, then made a face.  "Maybe Ivan?" she shouted, and I had to laugh, because Ivan is the big, loud, swarthy doorman in the Curious George movie, and this guy did look a little like him.

Later, during the offering, another man sang a solo, and I pointed him out to Jemma:  "See that man singing a song?"

She looked where I pointed, gave me a dark look, and announced loudly, "Don't Like That Man!"  When I shushed her and shook my head, she persisted:  "I Hate That Man!"  What???

Now we're home, cooking a big hunk of beef and some yummy gratin potatoes for dinner, watching it sleet outside.  We'll eat a cozy meal and when Jemma finishes her potatoes and fruit (no meat for her, of course), she'll hold her plate in the air triumphantly and yell, "Ta-Daaaa!"  Then Annie and I will put on our fancy clothes and go see the ballet with my mom, three generations marveling at the music and the dancers while Jemma stays at home and talks loudly in her crib while she's supposed to be napping.