Communication Challenges

Even though I am confident in my abilities as an animal communicator, I am tickled by the instances when Kino doesn't seem to understand what I am telling him.  Many of our miscommunications lately have occurred around people visiting the house.  Since nothing makes Kino happier than having company, I don't know if it's his sheer excitement of someone coming over that makes him less able to understand me or if it's something else entirely. All I know is that when these moments occur, it's hard not to be entertained by them.

I have learned that Kino doesn't understand what the word "later" means.  Several times I have made the mistake of telling him that someone is going to come over later, thinking that it would be helpful to set his expectations for that day.  The first time I did it, I said, "Today we're going to do this and that, run this errands and then after that, Joe is going to come over."  He dropped his toy and immediately ran to the window.  I said, "No, Kino, he's coming over later" which only made him stare out the window more intently.  No matter how many times I told him that Joe was coming over "LATER" he wouldn't budge from the front window.

There are times when even though I haven't said anything, Kino thinks we might be having a visitor and he will excitedly run to the front window and start looking for the mystery person to arrive.  I have learned that if I say, "Kino, no one is coming over" he gets even more wound up and I finally came to the conclusion that he must think we have a friend named "No one."  Each time I say, "No one is coming" or "No one is visiting us today" the frenzied excitement at the front window escalates.

Another one of our communication pitfalls happens because Kino can't seem to distinguish between an in person visit and a phone call.  I discovered this error on my part when I said, "We're going to take a break from playing because I need to call Karin."  He immediately ran to the front window to look for her.  No matter how many times I showed him my cell phone and said, "No, I am going to CALL her" it didn't make a difference.  He continued to sit at the front window looking for her car.

I'm not sure if this is an indication that I need to invite people over more often or if Kino just needs a little more time to learn that we don't actually know anyone named "No one."  If nothing else, it provides some comic relief at our house and since I always welcome opportunities to smile, I can't really complain too much about this particular set of miscommunications we've been having.