J in J : Shoes and Socks

I often call Vivian my ragamuffin child for the sole fact that she loves to take off her right shoe and sock and sports the one-shoe-off, one-shoe-on look. Her favorite place to remove her shoe and sock (always her right, never her left) is in the car as we drive around town. But she will happily remove and then drop her shoe and sock as we walk the aisles at Target (creating a Hansel and Gretel-like retracing footsteps scene) or in the living room as she plays.

After Vivian's first shoe and sock removal this (rather early) morning, I asked her "Where's your shoe?" while signing "where" and "shoe." She looked around, found it to the right of her, reached for it and handed me her pink-striped shoe.

Then I asked "Where's your sock?" while signing "where" and "sock." (I actually could not see her sock and didn't know where she had left it.) She looked around, scooted half a turn, picked up her sock, scooted back to me and handed the striped sock over with such a quiet confidence that the moment stuck with me all day.

It was a moment of effortless communication. I didn't have any doubt that my daughter understood me in this small exchange. Communication, language, ASL, speech and how to make it all work best for Vivian is nearly always on my mind - but this morning it just worked - in a very joyful way.