Signing

If you had told me 2 years ago that I would (a) learn sign language or (b) teach it to my child, I would have said you were crazy. First of all, the days of actually sitting down and taking the time to learn something were long over, as I had declared around the time I took the bar exam. Second, why teach a baby sign language - shouldn't you teach them English?

Well, as Lilly has been known to do, she has again turned my thinking upside down. Of course she was eager to learn sign language, because it was the "cool, trendy" thing to do with kids these days. Even her daycare was teaching it to all the babies. And we realized, as we looked into sign language, that it wasn't about *not* teaching your kid how to talk, but it's about giving your baby another way to communicate before they are ready to say spoken words. It's about saying and signing at the same time, so they understand the concept, and say the word when they're ready. It's been proven that teaching sign language does not delay speech, but instead it increases vocabulary and awareness.

It's also about reducing frustration, as a child who can express themself, in any manner, can tell her mom or dad what she wants and needs. In Lilly's case, as always one to take advantage of situations, she saw our excitement over her signing certain things and extorted it - she knew if she signed "please" with whatever she wanted (cookie, elmo, music, etc), then we would want to encourage the signing and give in to what she wanted. She's no fool. (And of course now, she knows to sign "potty" means to eat m&m's. 'Cause mommy's a sucker.)

Yet at the beginning, we still approached signing with Lilly, at about 8 months, with hesitation. We knew a few other families who signed, and they strongly encouraged us to start. We decided we had nothing to lose, why not? Still thinking that it wouldn't really work, though. The first two signs we taught were "more" and "all done." We did them with meals, and eventually she caught on - about 10 months I think. Then it was "milk," and then we started watching "Baby Signing Time," and then did Baby Signing classes, from Kindermusik. She went into the first signing class knowing about 5 signs, and by the end of the first month she truly understood that it was communication. And her memory is outstanding - many times we do the sign once, and without reinforcing it, she can remember it a month later. And at this point in time, she can sign over 100 signs, and uses most regularly. (A few on the list are her own variation, but most are American Sign Language.)

1. mom
2. dad
3. grandma
4. grandpa
5. eat
6. drink
7. milk
8. water
9. all done
10. again
11. apple
12. fruit
13. fish
14. dog
15. cat
16. frog
17. horse
18. little
19. big
20. duck
21. bird
22. spider
23. up
24. down
25. rain
26. wind
27. hot
28. quiet/shhh
29. boat
30. baby
31. sign
32. time
33. potty
34. wash hands
35. soap
36. hat
37. coat
38. shoes
39. socks
40. please
41. thank you
42. sorry
43. bread
44. ice cream
45. bath
46. one
47. two
48. five
49. ten
50. cracker
51. clothes
52. sleep
53. bed
54. brush teeth
55. teeth
56. eyes
57. nose
58. mouth
59. tongue
60. Lilly
61. phone
62. hi/bye
63. love
64. kiss
65. no
66. yes
67. bear
68. cereal
69. banana
70. pat
71. book
72. read
73. diaper
74. change
75. hurt
76. where
77. ball
78. play
79. sad
80. happy
81. car
82. bus
83. plane
84. bike/tricycle
85. jump
86. stand
87. bubble
88. train
89. music
90. point
91. light
92. star
93. what
94. diamond
95. beep/horn
96. wheel
97. head
98. smile/laugh
99. bell
100. cheese
101. boy
102. girl
103. cookie/cookie monster
104. elmo
105. tickle
106. hooray
107. uh oh
108. doll
109. stop
110. go
111. flower
112. dance
113. key
114. silly
115. monkey
116. elephant
117. lion
118. gorilla
119. wipe
120. loud

Lilly is also speaking, but she has more freedom accompanying her communication with signing; for some reason it comes more easily to her. Yet once she learns how to say the word for something, she doesn't sign it as much; so she's converting what she knows. Or she says and signs the word at the same time.

The coolest part for us, is that we know that she understands so many concepts - she easily signs "sorry" when she does something bad (although, without sincerity!), or she sweetly signs "please" when she wants that cookie. I can't tell you how proud I was a year ago, after she had learned the sign for "water" (like water that she drinks), and then we walked past a fountain and she signed "water" - I was shocked she understood the concept on her own what was shooting out of the fountain. Or when we first moved here, and Jon was working all the time, and Lilly started signing "Where's daddy?" I am super impressed by my little lady's ability to be bilingual at her young age, and she's inspiring her parents to learn something new as well.

Here's Lilly signing "daddy" last month.

(By the way, the only sign that Lilly absolutely refuses to learn, is "Help." Typical 2 year old.)