"No honey, it's not nice to slap Mommy!!!"

Am I the only one that has to constantly repeat that phrase?

Lately, Yorlee has been finding exquisite delight in trying to slap the taste out of my mouth.  It started playfully enough, I thought she was figuring out that by using her hand and another object, she can make a sound.  Maybe I'm foolish, but I didn't think it would cause a problem letting her sneak a little slap in here and there.

We were in Walmart (one of my favs) the other day buying a cool mist vaporizer for her room.  I forgot her cart cover and she was flopping to one side so I took her out and carried her while my husband pushed the cart.  We walked past two women, and they smiled politely at us and were going to keep walking until Yorlee flashed her gummy grin at them and reached out.  Of course they couldn't resist (who could?! LOL!) and ran over to us.  After asking me her name and how old she is, one of the ladies reached up and tickled Yorlee.  Her reaction?  A belly laugh, and a double handed slap to Mommy's face.  The woman said, "Oh, dear, are you okay?", and I smiled and laughed it off.  She looked so concerned.

Last night, while I was trying to put her to bed, she was fighting me.  I rocked her, and was kissing her face when she turned to look at me and then slapped me in the face again, and would have done so repeatedly had I not stopped her.

What is this about?

She doesn't do it to my husband nearly as much as she does it to me.  When she does it, I firmly say, "No", but she just thinks it's funny and will smile at me and try again.  After the second attempt, I usually help her clap her hands together.  Or bring over a toy and play with her.

The logical part of me thinks that this is just a developmental phase and once she understand fully that if you bang on an object you can make a sound, while the emotional side thinks she secretly hates me and slaps me on purpose.

She doesn't do it at daycare either.  Maybe she's trying to express herself and getting frustrated?  I did kind of slack off on the baby sign language.

Any tips?