Revisiting Baby Signing

Before my son was born we were set that we would be using baby signing in our household, and we did and it was very beneficial as those language skills took their time to catch up with his communication skills. Ace signed his first word "milk" when he was 7 months old. After a few months he had a dozen or so signs to communicate with us: milk, water, eat, more, all done, sorry, diaper, please, thank you... are the ones that got frequent use in our home. After he learned to say these words however signing dropped off and became nonexistant - until now! Tis the season again for Baby Signing once again.

Mae in this last week has been signing milk! The first time I saw it I took it as a fluke. She's not even 6 months old yet, she couldn't possibly... and yet she had done it very specifically timed with her mild fussing that she does when she wants milk. Hmm... so of course I signed milk for her and gave her some milk. A few days later she did it again and when I asked if she wanted milk she did her other telling mode of communicating that by opening her mouth REALLY wide (which is adorable!) Hmm... Finally, I decided that she was officially signing when she was sitting up on the floor being relatively still (aka not thrashing about making wild hand gestures that her overly-proud mommy wishes to make into a sign for milk) she looked up at me said 'mama' and then raised her arm and made the sign for milk. Be still my heart. It's just so amazing to watch your child learn, succeed and communicate! It does make me an overly proud mom (legitmately!) So one week shy of turning 6 months old, Mae signed her first word: "milk"




Next up we will introduce "more" and "all done" as we venture into solids a bit more consistantly after our return from California.