Ben has started to show so much personality. He just turned 4 months old, time sure does fly. It’s so great how much the family pulls together when a new baby is born. Our older children can’t get enough of Ben. I’ve started doing a few signs with Ben like “eat”, “more”, “all done” and “milk”. It will be a while before he starts to sign back things to me, but I’m certain he’ll be understanding the signs very soon… who knows maybe he already understands.
My poor kids, they end up getting all sorts of experimental haircuts from me. I just can’t bring myself to pay money for haircuts. My aunt is a hair stylist and she taught me how to cut my husbands hair when we first got married. I’ve pretty much mastered his haircut, but now I’m teaching myself how to do my kids. Annie’s hair isn’t too bad, but poor Brandon. Today I tried to use the buzzer, or clippers what ever you call them. I thought I had the same length that I used last time, but apparently I was wrong. His hair got sooo short. I had to keep going though, otherwise it would be completely uneven. The poor boy looks like he’s in the military. Good thing he’s only two and he could care less. Hopefully it looks better in a month or so, I just don’t want to tell anyone that I did it!
I wanted to share this story with everyone because I think Maria is one of those everyday heros we can gain inspiration from.
Hello Andrea!I am writing to you as suggested by my sister-in-law Emily Boehme to tell you a little about my little girl, Courtney, who is 20 months old.She has had a tracheostomy since she was 4 months old due to breathing problems she has had since birth.She has Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome (CCHS) and will likely have her tracheostomy till she is 5 or 6 years old.
We started basic baby signs from books we checked out from local libraries and she started of course with the sign for milk at age 8 months.She is very bright and finally now is starting to say Mama, Da (Dad), du (duck), and ba (ball).She is using most of the signs that I know and I look forward to learning more so that we can continue to communicate more effectively.When I learned of others signing with their babies when my two older children were babies, I have to admit I thought it would be time consuming and unnecessary.However, since this has been the only way I have been able to communicate with Courtney, I am starting to wish I had done baby signing with all of my children.I have been able to communicate sooner and more effectively with her than I ever did with my first two children.
Signing with Courtney has saved both of us so much frustration.I’m glad that Emily met you.Thanks in advance for your interest in our little family and for any help you could give to enhance our communication skills.
One time when Annie was just little a friend of ours was offering her some candy. Annie looked at me to see if it was okay. Without my friend seeing me I signed “no, no”, to Annie. She looked at my friend and shook her head no. My friend looked at me in amazement and said, “wow you hardly ever see a kid turn down candy”. I acted like I was surprised too… little did she know I was just using sign language to let Annie know exactly what I wanted to.
I’ve also used sign language when we’re out playing at a park or other public places when it’s too loud for my kids to hear me or I just don’t feel like yelling at the top of my lungs. The other parents watch as we sign back and forth. They’re always so impressed when my kids follow whatever instructions I “secretly” gave to the kids. I love using sign language! I wish more people knew it, because it really is a lot of fun.
We’ve just added a new section called Signing 4 Life. This section will include more advanced signs, signing sentences, lessons and activities you can use for young children, and more advanced lessons for older children and adults. It will take some time to add the material, but visit often to see new information updated regularly.
We had so much fun learning about street signs. We made cars out of boxes and then we made street signs with craft sticks and craft paper. The kids learned their colors and shapes and had fun taking turns driving around while the remaining kids were in charge of traffic control. The kids also got a paper to take with them in the car that had many other street signs that they might see around the city. They get to put a sticker on the sign when they see it while they’re driving in the car.
Annie my 5 year old was recording me, so sorry if it’s a little bumpy. And I’m not sure why it sounds like I have a lisp… I had to convert the file size so it wouldn’t take so long to load. I’ll try to add better video later, but for now… at least you’ll have something to work with.
This type of activity can also incorporate sign language. Here are the signs for: Green, Go, Yellow, Slow, Red, Stop, Car, Bus, and Motorcycle.
You can also play red light green using the signs.
Just to name a few ways that signing has helped my children:Clarifying what they are trying to verbally say.I remember when Annie was little for instance, she was listening to the adults talk and we were saying something about how to catch something.She kept looking at me funny and then she signed “Cat”.The whole time she thought we were saying Cat.If she hadn’t have signed it we both would have gone on confused and frustrated that the other person wasn’t making any sense.
Signing has helped my kids with leaning their colors and animals.When I’ve taught my kids colors and animals I teach them the sign for them as well.When they get stuck on what the color is for instance, I simply sign it and it’s a quick reminder of what the color is.Even though they may just be repeating the “name of the sign” I showed them, I feel that I’m giving them another symbol for what they are looking at. In the same way we have verbal symbols that represent the color or object.The verbal symbols are so abstract that it can be hard for a child to connect the meanings.Sign language for a lot of people is easier to connect with its meaning.Incorporating many ways of learning something only adds to the number of resources they have to pull from.Kids all learn in different ways, so the more options you give them in learning the more likely they are to learn the concepts more thoroughly and quickly.
Another way signing has helped my children is adding to their self confidence.I mentioned in an earlier blog that sign language makes my daughter feel “cool”.Annie loves showing other kids and family signs.It has connected her with us and others that sign.It’s made her unique and smart in the eyes of others.It’s allowed her to communicate with my deaf cousin.It’s opened up a whole new way of exploring and learning things.All of this has helped to boost her self confidence.And now I see it happening with my son as well.Not to mention, the bond that my kids have with each other because of sign language.Annie helps to teach her younger brothers sign language and they all benefit because of the positive interaction.
Signing has also helped my children verbally.Both my daughter and son have been well ahead of the average as far as speaking and verbally communicating.My daughter was saying full sentences at 15 months old.And my son was speaking months ahead of the other boys his age.Every child is different, but I feel that my children benefited tremendously from using sign language.
The list goes on, and I’ll comment more on it later when I have more time… but those are just a few of the benefits I’ve seen personally in my own children.