Emmett's most frustrating behavior lately goes something like this: He asks to be picked up by lifting his arms and saying "Uhhh!" So I lift him up onto my hip (which is killing my back, BTW) and he'll point to something in the distance and say "Nnn! Nnn! Nnn!"

I'll hand him the nearest object--and he'll swat my hand out of the way. He points harder and says louder "NNN! NNN! NNN!" More pointing, more swatting, and more "NNN! NNN! NNN!" follow. About seven times out of 10 I can find the object in question and get it to him quickly enough, but the other three times end with him having a mini-meltdown, I think because I won't give him the cheese grater or the meat cleaver--but I'm not even really sure that's it.

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Emmett has a handful of regular words ("dah!" = dog, "nana!" = banana, "chu!" = shoe, etc.) And thanks to the nanny, he has a few American Sign Language signs ("more," "thank you") but most of the time communicating with him is REALLY frustrating!

How do you communicate with kids who can't? Do I just have to tough it out until he can talk?

What do you think?