Thursday, November 09, 2006

Baby Signs

Ian and I took the Baby Signs class when he was 8 months old. Results were slow at first. It wasn't until he was 10 months old he began signing milk. Other words soon followed: eat, drink, duck, frog, bath, moon, book, more, to name a few. Both my husband and I enjoyed communicating with our son at such an early age, and felt it alleviated a lot of frustrations within Ian. He had an outlet to let us know what he wanted or was thinking about.

At 9 months, Laurel began the Baby Signs class. Within a couple tries, she was already mimicking and soon meaning milk. Just the other day, she let out a delightful little squeal in order to get my attention. I looked over at her and squealed back. She stopped crawling, sat up, looked right at me, held up her little arm and opened and closed her fist. I asked her, "Do you want milk?" Her head bobbed excitedly as she continued signing milk.

Wow, she is telling me what she wants. No screams, no tears, just clear communication. In the last couple of weeks, she has learned to sign duck, bath, moon, more, light, and bye-bye. Her sweet face lights up every time she signs something and we verbally talk to her about it. Ian loves to get right in there and show her the signs too. He'll even take her hands and demonstrate how a word is done. Paul and I definitely will need to keep up with the two of them, otherwise it won't be long before Ian and Laurel will be talking in front of us without us having a clue as to what they're saying.

7 comments:

Lady M said...

That is so cool! Just being able to say that they're hungry is a huge help, and communication increases so rapidly. SwingDaddy and I joke about needing to go "de-poopify" the baby's dirty diaper. This week, Q said, "poo-poo-fy" quizzically, and we all burst into laughter! Yes, his job is to poopify, and we will de-poopify.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I wish I brought my kids to Baby Signs. That is awsome.

Elizabeth said...

it sounds like it has been a great experience for you. Right on!

Anonymous said...

I totally agree! Just being able to sign a few words, like more, eat and help, is so helpful preventing that frustration that babies have getting their feelings across. I laughed so hard one time when I wasn't moving fast enough getting Cameron "more" of something, and he starts smacking his little fingers together, and without thinking, I told him "don't you yell at me!" LOL

Damselfly said...

Wow, so neat because I just ordered and got my Baby Signs kit in the mail yesterday. My boy is only two months old, but I figured what the hey. Glad to hear it works for Laurel and you!

Anonymous said...

Oh, wow! That's amazing! Now I totally want to sign up (hehe, no pun intended). Already I see my littlest one watching her older brother's every move and wanting to be a part of the action. How exciting it would be to have them communicating with one another easily without her having to go through the frustration! But, oh my God, the horror of them talking in front of us and (gasp!) possibly even making up their own signs to further render us clueless!!!

Cristina said...

That is awesome. We do signs with Little Guy too and we love it!