'No' is a full sentence

Hilary Duff Is Every Mom Whose Toddler Only Knows The Word ‘No’

The mom-of-three posted a photo of her youngest, Mae James, with an all-too-relatable comment on toddler vocabulary.

Hilary Duff is just like any other mom with a toddler who's favorite word is only two letters, as he...
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Hearing a child’s first gibberish-tinged words is a beautiful thing. Hearing the same thing over and over even after they’ve developed a larger vocabulary — namely the word “no” — can be maddening. For whatever reason, the two-letter negative response is a favorite of toddlers, and Hilary Duff is more than ready for her youngest Mae James to move out of the no phase.

“MJ you are very cute. Time to learn more words than ‘NO’ though,” the mother of three captioned a photo of Mae looking at the camera head on, almost in challenging way, with a book in her hands. “She says “NO” 😂” commented one fan of the 18-month-old’s adorable-but-firmly-in-the-no-camp look.

“My daughter is also MJ, born the same day and also says NO to everything 😉,” wrote one fan.

“And she’s holding the ultimate “no” book 😂,” noted another of the book Where’s Spot, which features pull-up flaps and lots of opportunities for a child to say “No!” after a parent asks, “Is Spot under here?”

Duff shares daughters Banks Violet Blair, 4, and Mae with her husband Matthew Koma. She also has a son, Lucas Cruz Comrie, 10, with ex-husband Mike Comrie.

And even in the most frustrating of parenting moments, Duff says she would not trade anything for the chaos and commotion that comes with a blended family. “I love this mayhem,” she told People of becoming a mother of three after welcoming Mae back in March 2021. “I’m so in love with all of my kids,” she gushed.

Surviving the toddlers years can be tough — especially when your child responds to every request with a “no” in an almost compulsive but delighted manner — but if you can’t laugh at least a little, is there anything else you can do? To quote Mae, “No.”