When does "No" really mean "No"?

Alice turned a corner on Easter Sunday and has started to get a bit better, at least during the day. The poor thing has had to take so many medicines over the last two weeks that she has necessarily perfected the art of refusal. When presented with anything that she doesn't want (or sometimes something that she does), she will shake her head vehemently and wave her hands about, saying, "No, No, No". The accent is very home counties, meaning the result is more like "Nair, Nair, Nair".

The more she does this, the more I am convinced she is getting better. Earlier in the week, she was so tired, lethargic and poorly that she fell asleep in the most unlikely places, such as while riding Little Friend Amba's bike and on all fours, with her head on my leg while I was sitting on the floor. She couldn't really be bothered to raise her head to look at food. Now she is happily refusing everything...at least for a few minutes. I suppose after a fortnight of helplessness, she is enjoying asserting her will.

Drama Queen that she is, waving her hands in front of her face adds to the vehemence of the refusal. Here she is having refused apple:

I really didn't want it Mum.

In this sitting, she refused and then accepted everything offered to her including her body weight in red grapes, 2 yoghurts, all of the carrots from my plate from our Easter roast dinner and 2 rusks. Yes, she is definitely on the up!