BABY SIGN LANGUAGE

This is Johnnie holding a firefighter's helmet and making the sign for "hat." Her use of sign language is blowing me away. In the past week it seems she's picked up a new word every day. So far it hasn't translated into spoken words yet, but it has made communicating much easier. Especially when we tell her no and she signs to us that she's sad. (It is hard not to laugh when she does this, but we do our best.) It's very helpful when I'm trying to figure out if her endless pit of a stomach is finally satisfied after a meal. She whips out "all done" and I know she's ready for me to start hosing her off. She's also now signing "help me" instead of fussing and grunting in frustration when she's struggling with a task, which is a delightful development. Communication is a wonderful thing.

As I mentioned before, my mother-in-law is the driving force behind this sign language endeavor and we just reinforce at home. She babysat a hearing impaired child many years ago, so learning sign language was a must for her and for all the kids she watched so they could all communicate. It became a tradition. Now she uses the Signing Time DVDs, which Johnnie loves to the point she tries to stand with her nose against the TV so she can soak it all in faster. And it's working!

The signs she uses most right now are:

Help me
Eat
Hat
Cheese
Milk
Bird
Dog
Cookie
Finished
Cereal
More
Sad
Tired
Baby
Apple
Flower

I'm pretty excited to pick her up every day and figure out what new sign she learned, even though it means my baby girl is growing up all too quickly.


Note: This is not a paid endorsement for Signing Time.