I was at a restaurant the other day and I saw a mom using sign language with her baby. I asked the more if her daughter knew many signs. She told me she knew three: more, all done, and milk. I asked her if she had taught her older kids sign language when they were babies and if she’d taught them more signs. She said she had taught them sign language, but just the same three signs. Then she said, but I don’t know why I do it, because it’s not like I can’t tell that they want more food when they try and grab it, and I know they’re all done when they push the food away.
My reply to her was, oh that’s too bad… maybe you should teach her more signs. I was able to teach my children other food signs and when they woke up in the morning they’d tell me they wanted some bread, or a banana. They could also tell me they were thirsty, but they wanted milk, not water.
This is just one example of how using sign language made it easier to know exactly what my children wanted. A lot of parents I’ve talked to that haven’t gone on to teach their babies more signs just don’t see the benefit, but once they realize how much more their babies understand and are able to do with sign language, they are blown away!
Why not use sign language with your baby, it’s easy, has incredible lasting benefits, and it’s fun!
I love this stage of baby signing. My son is in the signing burst stage of baby signing… he can’t get enough. He’s at the point now that when I introduce a sign he can almost immediately reproduce it. He understands that I am teaching him a gesture that will represent something, so when I start signing, he watches and waits to see what I’m saying. Watch this video of Ben signing, he just turned 13 months this week.
My little 11 month old got a few of his signs mixed up… which happens, you just have to connect the reasons why this happens sometimes. I used to nurse my son to sleep right before bed, so a lot of the time when I was about to put him in bed I would say “time to go night night” and I’d sign bed. Without realizing it though I would go to feed him first. Then after awhile when I would ask Ben if he was hungry he would start signing bed or night night. At first I thought he was tired so I’d go to lay him down and he would cry and look at me like I was making a mistake. After a few time of this happening I quickly put the pieces together and realized how I had confused him. After that I started differentiating eat and bed and correcting his signing if he used the wrong one. It only took a couple days and he understood the difference, and that was at 11 months old. I can’t believe how observant they are!
So if you’ve noticed your little one has gotten a sign mixed up make sure to differentiate between your signs and then correct your little one by showing them the correct sign. If they still aren’t getting it, try to be more consistent and even take there hands and physically show them the sign you want them to do. When I’m teaching my son signs for the first time for a few days I while take his hands and help him mimic the sign correctly, it helps them to feel what they are visually seeing.
Brandon is finally Potty trained!!! He’ll be three in April, so I was ready for him to be done. Ben got 4 teeth and started walking. He’s 8 1/2 months old… and I know it doesn’t sound real, but he took 20 steps this week, I caught it on video so I’ll post it later. I’ve started to retake pictures for a new quick reference book to go along with a new Signing 4 Baby DVD… I don’t want to be pregnant in this one! What a great week.
Okay, I know I’m a little late getting this post together, well ridiculously late… but I forgot I had these videos… so here you go. We had such a great time over Thanksgiving. We spend time each year with my dads family and it’s pretty much turned into our family reunion. This year we had over 90 people! It was my parents turn to host… so we had to do something fun. My brother came up with the idea to rent sumo suits, if you’ve never done it, you should. I couldn’t stop laughing. I know it’s not really a traditional Thanksgiving type thing to do, but I think people will at least remember this one. Have fun watching some of my family members fumble around in fat suits!
Too busy? The holidays are a great time to give your baby extra attention, and here’s how. When family is around and they want to play and hold your baby, teach them the signs you have been working on. Your relatives will love learning the new signs and then they can work with your baby too. Even younger kids who play with your baby can pick up a new sign quickly and sign it for you. It makes a great time with family and really enhances your holiday experience with your extended family. Just for fun try the signs for Thanksgiving or Christmas!
Thanksgiving: with two flat hands at chin sign thank you and then extend your flat hands out one more time as if to give.
Christmas: left arm bent in front of your body, palm down, right hand with “C” handshape starting at left arm and then arcing up from left arm to end with right arm bent in front, palm left and hand in “C” handshape.
I can tell Ben is starting to recognize and respond to some of the signs. When ever I sign eat he starts reaching for food, it’s such a cool thing. Even though he’s the third child I’ve done sign language with it still amazes me at how small these little kids are. Just my personal opinion but I really feel like parents that don’t do sign language with their kids miss out on a lot. If I hadn’t done sign language with my children I know I wouldn’t have picked up on a lot of the little things… and I wouldn’t have realized they were understanding me at such a young age. Having Ben respond to my signing is so much fun to see. I’ve recently added a few more signs and I’m looking forward to him progressing each day.