I could see the intensity in her eyes and knew this was important to her. Her hands on each side of my face to make sure I had her undivided attention, she raised her voice a little louder. "Fa-Vill-Aw"
I knew laughing wasn't the response she wanted. Her brow creased even further in determination and frustration, her dark brown eyes wide and enegetic, and her nose now less than an inch from mine. I just couldn't help it; she's just so cute. And just seeing that determination to make me understand her, I couldn’t stop smiling. "I'm sorry, Jasmine," I responded, "but just saying it louder doesn't help me understand any better what you're asking for."
"FA-VILL-AW"
My mind raced. What on earth could she be asking for? Sometimes she still used "bla-la-la" even though she knew how to say "milk" and "bottle". She was still a month away from being two-years-old and her vocabulary was actually quite remarkable considering her age. "Bla-la-la" was how she first asked for a bottle and we knew what she was asking for every time she said it, which must have made it seem like as good a word as any. But "Fa-vill-aw" was new, at least as far as I could remember.
"Fa-Vill-Aw." She wasn't going to relent until I finally understood what she was talking about.
We had been watching videos of her on my phone. I thought it was interesting the fascination she had with watching herself dance, play the drums or harmonica, do somersaults, or go down the slide. It must have been something like an out-of body experience for her to see those things from the third person perspective and still know and remember that it was her that went through all of those actions. She watched them over and over and over again.
"FA-VILL-AW" -- Finally it clicked in my head what she must be talking about, and I laughed with relief and understanding. It was a different video that she wanted to see of herself and she couldn't find it on her own and wanted my help. Her brother had a battery powered four-wheeler that she liked to ride, and that was the video that she wanted to see.
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