Everyone's heard of the Terrible Twos. Well, everyone who's familiar with raising human infants. A piece of information that's been surprisingly slow to make its way around, though, is that those years are only so terrible because the little ones have wants and needs and thoughts that they don't know how to communicate; a combination of not being exposed to the words for what they feel and having tongues too big for their mouths, making it near impossible to articulate the words they do know.
All of this can be circumvented with any form of sign language and a bit of effort to introduce more vocabulary on the part of the caretaker(s).
That said, toddlers are universally curious, not so good at thinking ahead, more mobile than expected, and surprisingly good at disassembling everything they come across in an effort to find out what's inside. What happens when a mixed-species daycare, meant for the young offspring of ship-board passengers, finds itself saddled with a toddling human who, while familiar with instructions to be "gentle" with soft, furry friends (in an effort to get them to stop yanking the poor skitty's fur and sticking their fingers up the dog's nose), hasn't gotten the memo that the whole of the universe isn't familiar with the cobbled-together signing vocabulary they use with their parents to communicate such vital things as "baby eat waffle" and "baby drink juice" when they want something specific. -- Anon Guest
The Human toddler is a primer on Human instincts with a negative impulse control. They are all action and very little in the way of reason. Even the Humans who spawn them are shocked by the mobility of a small being with legs less than a quarter of the length of an adult's. Their capacity for improvisation can boggle even the most experienced minds.
As for the inexperienced minds... Meet Laeth. Ze has had the presence of mind to keep the Havenworlder children separate from the Deathworlders, but this was the fourth time ze had captured the very small Human Pip attempting to open the keycard-locked door to get into the Havenworlder rooms.
"Pip, you should go back to the room you came from. That is a better place to play." Laeth, one of the many who were carers for the children, moved hirself to gently herd Human Pip back to the chamber from whence they had come.
Pip started making a complaining noise and pointing towards the forbidden area. There was the word 'chicken' in there, and 'num num' but the rest of it was unintelligible babble. There were agitated movements of the small Human's arms that could be a form of sign, but not any lexicon Laeth could easily recognise[1]. Understanding was the problem.
"You can watch the chickens in the petting zoo," Laeth offered. "If you want to touch them, I have to help you be gentle."
"Chicken," protested Pip, with more gestures and babble.
"Yes, a lot of the Havenworlders do look like chickens, but they are not chickens. They are people. Most importantly, they are fragile. Do you know what fragile is?"
Babble babble, "Fajiyul," babble babble, "Chicken," babble babble, "Num num." The signs were repeated again, and Human Pip was getting increasingly upset.
Laeth, experienced in multiple avenues of understanding, attempted yes and no. "Do you want to touch the chickens?"
"No. Chicken num num," grabbing motions. "Num num chicken," babble babble. Point at door.
Wait. The Havenworlders were having snack time. Oh. "Do you want what the chickens are eating?"
Some body language is universal. Despite different body frames, cultures, and means of emoting, Human Pip conveyed, Well, FINALLY someone understands! across millions of light years' distance between evolutionary points of origin. "Chicken num num!"
Well. There was very little a Havenworlder could eat that would harm a Deathworlder, but having said that, Human toddlers should not ever have too much in the way of simple sugars. "I can let you have a little bit," Laeth allowed. "And you have to eat some of your vegetables before I give you any." Which would give hir ample time to triple-check with Pip's list of no-no's, and be certain that they got something that wouldn't disturb mind or body or energy levels.
Human Pip blew a raspberry, another near-universal expression of dislike. They made a connected moan and grizzle as they headed back to their Deathworlder room.
"Yes, vegetables can be nasty. Your parents have told me you can have all the cheese sauce you like."
This seemed agreeable, and after five of the slowest, cheesiest bites of their appointed vegetables, Pip was allowed to have some of the Havenworlder's small, simple nutrition cakes as a treat for being a good kid.
Communication was never an easy feat. All things considered, it was a minor miracle that any species got along at all.
[1] There is a theory that some gestures are universal, but... not all anatomy is universal, so gestures are not as universal as one might think.
[Image (c) Can Stock Photo / demidoff]
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