A lot has changed since my last post about my signing baby 7 months ago – or should I say, my then-still-not-consistently-signing baby. It amazes me to think that his signing vocabulary has grown so much so quickly!
We started signing to my with “Baby Signing Time” videos at 6 months old, but he didn’t start signing back until 3 months later. His first sign: MILK. The first time he did it, I was overjoyed, but because he wasn’t consistent with signing that yet, also a little discouraged (yes, I am indeed an impatient person).
A few weeks later, we saw more consistency as he signed milk, then eventually, MORE, and then CRACKER. Before his first birthday, he was signing more often, adding to his vocabulary new things like DOG and BALL.
At 15 months old, (a mere 6 months since he started signing) I updated his electronic baby book (thank you Outlook calendar) with words he can sign. Only then did I realize he was already signing over 40 words! That includes those not included in the videos, signs I had to find out for myself.
That also meant I had to keep my signing vocabulary growing. I have yet to learn the signs for cherries and blueberries, plate, fork and spoon and so many other things he tries to communicate to me through pointing.
As for his verbal communication skills, he can only say five: mama, papa, ball, baba and dede, which are Tagalog words for “down” and “breast/milk” respectively. Some people I know are worried of speech delay because he’s communicating so well by signing. Me, not so much.
That’s because current research has shown that signing encourages speech development because of baby’s success at communication. And even I see that clearly. He still signs ball as he says it, but with dede, he hardly signs milk anymore. Besides, I find it easier to have him sign over 40 words to me at this age rather than have him speak 8 or 15 while struggling to communicate the other 30.
Having my son sign makes me realize how much he really wants to communicate. One time, I took him out for a ride in his stroller as we went to check our mail. Because it was a scorching hot day, I had no intentions of staying out and baking in the sun, so as soon as we got the mail, I headed back to our house. As we reached our front door, he started to sign:
MILO: More
ME: We have to head back inside, it’s too hot out here. (I push his stroller inside).
MILO: (whimpering) MORE, MORE!!! OUT!
ME: (taking off his shoes) Later honey, it’s too hot. I promise we’ll go out again later.
MILO: (now upset, kicking as I try to take his shoes off) NO! SHOES!!! MORE! OUT!!! OUT!!! SHOES!!! PLEEEEAASE!!!
I was beaming with pride that he is able to communicate what he wanted – only I couldn’t indulge him, so that broke my heart. I did keep my promise and brought him outside again when the sun’s rays started to mellow down that afternoon.
There have been many other instances like this where he clearly communicated with me, whether it’s about something he wants, doesn’t want or simply just letting me know about what he sees or hears. These reinforce my belief that we made the right decision teaching him to sign. I never thought I could truly have conversations with my baby even before he could speak. And because I’m a chatterbox myself, I couldn’t be happier.
Showing posts with label baby signs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label baby signs. Show all posts
1.02.2009
4 Months Later
It’s been a good 4 months since my last post on the blog that I vowed to update every week – or at least try to update every week. I did try, but I was obviously unsuccessful. There were a couple entries that were on draft for a while, though, but they never made it to this blog – until today. Besides these entries from the past, here are a few updates on my mommy life and to now 9-month-old boy, Milo:
Baby Signing
We started signing with him at 6 months, and have awaited the day he signs back to us. So far, no such luck yet, except for a couple times when we thought he signed milk – which he actually did. Nothing consistent yet, but we’re getting there slowly. And we’re super excited!
Potty Training
As soon as he started to sit up on his own, my mom told me to sit him on a potty first thing in the morning and make the “sssshhh” sound to help him associate peeing on the potty. I had no idea this was called “elimination communication” but we did it anyway, and so far it’s working. He pees – and POOPS – on the potty! So when he learns to sign, he can start communicating to us his need to answer nature’s calls. At this point, we haven’t changed a single poopy diaper in months.
Crawling, cruising
He learned to crawl, pull up to stand and eventually cruise along our bed and his crib at 7 ½ months. He’s now climbing the stairs, too. His mobility has caused me to already run after him esp. when he gets a head-start to our flat-screen TV, the fireplace and my slippers. I can imagine having to really run after him even without a head-start pretty soon.
Teething and Feeding
He now has 2 lower teeth, 1 upper semi-tooth and another upper tooth emerging. And I’m still nursing him – I plan to nurse until I have milk, despite the occasional biting. Hopefully it stays that way, because his teeth are sharp and I don’t know if I can handle any more than biting every now and then. If he decides to keep biting, we’ll have to wean him and start buying the expensive soy-based formula, because we learned the hard way that he’s allergic to milk protein (see next bullet). That means no cheese, yogurt, butter or any other form of dairy, including eggs, until he’s a year old.
Trip to the ER
Yep, he’s been to the emergency room. We had a post-Thanksgiving dinner with some relatives, and one of his well-meaning aunties fed him a sliver of cheesecake. A few minutes later, his eyes and face were red and swollen. We rushed him to a nearby ER for fear of his throat closing up. He’s never had that kind of reaction before, because he’s never been fed anything other than fruits, vegetables and rice cereal, per his pedia’s instructions. And he’s never gonna be fed anything without them running it by me or his dad. And Benadryl is now his best friend.
2 nights out
Since Milo was born, I’ve only been out two nights – for friends’ weddings, while my husband stayed home to watch our baby. Though I loved the chance to take a break and feel like a woman – not just a mom – again, I realized that 90% of the time, I was either talking about or thinking about my baby.
Grandma and Grandpa Babysit
My in-laws have been visiting and staying with us from another country for almost 3 months as of this writing. Though they’re leaving in less than 2 weeks, it’s not like there will be a lot of changes when it comes to babysitting. They’re not exactly hands-on grandparents, esp. with a baby this young. They’re not comfortable playing with the baby on the floor, so Milo gets held and rocked when he’s with them, which means he gets bored from no mobility and no exercise. And they panic when he cries. I do give them A for thought and effort - that's what counts anyway.
Unfortunately, my initial plan to have at least ONE date night or movie in the theater with my husband has never come to fruition. I wonder how much longer we have to wait for that to happen.
Baby Signing
We started signing with him at 6 months, and have awaited the day he signs back to us. So far, no such luck yet, except for a couple times when we thought he signed milk – which he actually did. Nothing consistent yet, but we’re getting there slowly. And we’re super excited!
Potty Training
As soon as he started to sit up on his own, my mom told me to sit him on a potty first thing in the morning and make the “sssshhh” sound to help him associate peeing on the potty. I had no idea this was called “elimination communication” but we did it anyway, and so far it’s working. He pees – and POOPS – on the potty! So when he learns to sign, he can start communicating to us his need to answer nature’s calls. At this point, we haven’t changed a single poopy diaper in months.
Crawling, cruising
He learned to crawl, pull up to stand and eventually cruise along our bed and his crib at 7 ½ months. He’s now climbing the stairs, too. His mobility has caused me to already run after him esp. when he gets a head-start to our flat-screen TV, the fireplace and my slippers. I can imagine having to really run after him even without a head-start pretty soon.
Teething and Feeding
He now has 2 lower teeth, 1 upper semi-tooth and another upper tooth emerging. And I’m still nursing him – I plan to nurse until I have milk, despite the occasional biting. Hopefully it stays that way, because his teeth are sharp and I don’t know if I can handle any more than biting every now and then. If he decides to keep biting, we’ll have to wean him and start buying the expensive soy-based formula, because we learned the hard way that he’s allergic to milk protein (see next bullet). That means no cheese, yogurt, butter or any other form of dairy, including eggs, until he’s a year old.
Trip to the ER
Yep, he’s been to the emergency room. We had a post-Thanksgiving dinner with some relatives, and one of his well-meaning aunties fed him a sliver of cheesecake. A few minutes later, his eyes and face were red and swollen. We rushed him to a nearby ER for fear of his throat closing up. He’s never had that kind of reaction before, because he’s never been fed anything other than fruits, vegetables and rice cereal, per his pedia’s instructions. And he’s never gonna be fed anything without them running it by me or his dad. And Benadryl is now his best friend.
2 nights out
Since Milo was born, I’ve only been out two nights – for friends’ weddings, while my husband stayed home to watch our baby. Though I loved the chance to take a break and feel like a woman – not just a mom – again, I realized that 90% of the time, I was either talking about or thinking about my baby.
Grandma and Grandpa Babysit
My in-laws have been visiting and staying with us from another country for almost 3 months as of this writing. Though they’re leaving in less than 2 weeks, it’s not like there will be a lot of changes when it comes to babysitting. They’re not exactly hands-on grandparents, esp. with a baby this young. They’re not comfortable playing with the baby on the floor, so Milo gets held and rocked when he’s with them, which means he gets bored from no mobility and no exercise. And they panic when he cries. I do give them A for thought and effort - that's what counts anyway.
Unfortunately, my initial plan to have at least ONE date night or movie in the theater with my husband has never come to fruition. I wonder how much longer we have to wait for that to happen.
Signing Time
*Another old entry that sat in draft mode for over a month.
11.10.2008
Since my baby was 6 months old, we’ve been teaching him baby sign language. It’s not exactly a special set of signs, just some words from the American Sign Language (ASL) that we use in our routine such as milk, eat, food, water, cracker, shoes, and a lot of other words that will be helpful for our baby to communicate with us.
We bought Baby Signing Time volumes 1 and 2 and he watches them after lunch every single day that we’re home. It’s been part of his routine since then. We love how its cute animation and adorable babies signing with Rachel, the teacher, make him really pay attention (and how it allows me to eat my lunch while he’s watching signing time!).
He hasn’t started signing back to us, but a few weeks after we’ve used it as we talk to him, he’s been responding to some of them already. When I sign milk and he DOES want milk, he flaps his arms up and down and gets so excited – so I offer milk and he is content.
We are so excited for the day he makes his first sign – I read that most babies start signing at around 9-12 months. That’s a few weeks away!
If you’re interested in learning more about baby sign language, here’s a couple links I found that has other words not in both volumes of Baby Signing Time DVD.
http://babystrology.com/baby-learning/baby-sign-language/dictionary/cold.html
http://www.signwithme.com/002_browse_signs.asp
Happy Signing!
11.10.2008
Since my baby was 6 months old, we’ve been teaching him baby sign language. It’s not exactly a special set of signs, just some words from the American Sign Language (ASL) that we use in our routine such as milk, eat, food, water, cracker, shoes, and a lot of other words that will be helpful for our baby to communicate with us.
We bought Baby Signing Time volumes 1 and 2 and he watches them after lunch every single day that we’re home. It’s been part of his routine since then. We love how its cute animation and adorable babies signing with Rachel, the teacher, make him really pay attention (and how it allows me to eat my lunch while he’s watching signing time!).
He hasn’t started signing back to us, but a few weeks after we’ve used it as we talk to him, he’s been responding to some of them already. When I sign milk and he DOES want milk, he flaps his arms up and down and gets so excited – so I offer milk and he is content.
We are so excited for the day he makes his first sign – I read that most babies start signing at around 9-12 months. That’s a few weeks away!
If you’re interested in learning more about baby sign language, here’s a couple links I found that has other words not in both volumes of Baby Signing Time DVD.
http://babystrology.com/baby-learning/baby-sign-language/dictionary/cold.html
http://www.signwithme.com/002_browse_signs.asp
Happy Signing!
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