Baby Signing Aug 31

Seems like I haven't written forever.  This week Madison and Grandma and I worked really hard on our "farm" signs so we would be ready for our class on Tuesday, and don't you know it, she didn't sign ANYTHING in class!  She was doing Chicken, Mouse, Pig (1 time), and Horse all week!  It was funny.  Next week are the safety signs (Hot, Stop, Hurt, Help, Dirty and Gentle). They are much more difficulty to practice, kind of like the signs for feelings.  They aren't "things" you can point to in a book and show the sign for (other than Stop but that still doesn't convey the meaning) but we are working on them anyway!

At the end of class we get a little bag of cheerios while we read our story. It is our time to practice our manners and "ask", say "please" and "thank you".  At first Madison was like "heck, I don't even know what cereal is!" (She started young) and now when she saw the bags she started signing "cereal" and it was so cute.  The other two babies both signed "Please", something Madison hasn't done yet (only because we haven't practiced I told myself).

I made it this week's goal to learn "Please" (Open hand in a circle on chest).  After a couple of tries I randomly said "Say Please" when she was asking for a toy and she DID IT! I was so excited.  Little things excite me these days!

When we were reading the other night I thought about seeing how she would do if I didn't 'say' the word with the sign.  She is very responsive to the spoken word so I instead asked "What is that?" and she signed pretty much all of the ones I pointed to that I knew she knew without me saying "Where's the hat?" Etc.

I really should have started writing down all the words she knows as she learned them. We were going through the little flashcards and I was just amazed at all the words she knows.  She does them at the funniest times too.  She was recently doing two signs that had meaning to her that I had NO IDEA what they were for.  With a little imagination, we were able to determine that one was a modified sign for shoes and the other one was her made up sign for "Grandma".  She made up a sign with Papa a long time ago. When he would see her he would pat his big tummy and say "Papa" and now she does it when she sees him, hears him or his name or sees a picture of him, it is very cute. The signs for Grandma and Grandpa aren't easy and I was just asking my Mom if she wanted to make one up for her.  We just kept doing the real one and hope for the best.  Then Madison was doing this sign up by her face and we didn't know why.  My Mom observed that she did it when she was looking at her through the window and stopped when she walked away and started again when she saw her.  We tested it out and sure enough she was 'saying' Grandma!  Kinda looks like "hat" but lower.  Very cute.

I hope to get video of her when she is rested and at her best and interested in "performing".  It is funny when people see her and she does something and they say "What is she saying now?"

I have learned that the key to this whole signing thing is consistency and making it your own habit that you do no matter what you are saying. I don't have to say full sentences to get the point across but if I can say "thank you" EVERY TIME it is appropriate to do so, I just KNOW that EVENTUALLY she will do it back!

Funny 2 part story:  Illustrating how ingrained this signing has become for me.

Part 1: I went out on a girl's night 'in' recently.  I went to a friend's house for dinner with 5 friends. We laughed until we cried and told stories and talked about boys. It was so much fun and the food was fabulous as well which is ALWAYS a plus!  Okay I know, on to the funny part. I was telling a story and at one point I used the word "happy" and I signed it! I slowly lowered my hand when I realized what I did and looked around to see if anyone noticed. It was hilarious.  I finally said to one girl, "Did you see what I did?" and she said "Yep, you're a dork". I have to admit, it made me 'happy' to know it was becoming such a habit, that means it is working.

Part 2: I was walking out of Costco and the lady gave me my receipt back after checking to make sure I hadn't stolen anything (I still don't get how that works!) anyway, I smiled and signed "Thank You" to her.  It was funny, but Madison was with us and I justified me being a dork because it is good for her to see me "talking" to others in a way she understands.  My Mom and I do this all the time. I hope we can keep it up.

I should really blog more often so they aren't so long...I only have three maybe four readers that I know of, so I don't think any of them mind.

Madison crawled!

Madison crawled for the first time today! She did it twice, once for Papa to get a teddy bear and once for Grandma to get to her music train.  I missed it but loved hearing about it and the love and joy in my parents voices.  It was the end of the day when I got to her and she was tired and didn't want to do it again, so I am not posting the video of her sitting in protest to my pleas to come to me.  That is okay, she will be fresh tomorrow and DADDY COMES HOME TOMORROW! So we will get to see it together.

Other fun things we learned this week:

She gets off of her stool all by herself too and it is so cute to watch.  She leans forward from a sit and puts her hands out and goes gently to the floor.  She stands from a sit to the table from her stool and sits back down again. She can also get to a sit from her tummy and from her back.  She is getting so strong and it was just a matter of us being shown how to encourage her transitions appropriately and she is going to be off in no time!  I hope to get some more videos really soon.

She signed Mouse for the first time today too and that was fun! My Mom said she also signed "horse" to her and was looking at her bouncing horse and then my Mom put her in it to play.  One smart cookie!  Next week's class is "The Farm" so I am working on the main words: Mouse, Cow, Pig, Sheep, Chicken, and Horse so when we do the class she can show off her stuff! She can do Mouse, Horse, Chicken and she did Pig one time so far.  Sheep is kinda hard, you take your fingers like scissors across your forearm.  She sure watches your hands intently and then looks at her hands so intently.  Very exciting! 

I can't wait to share all she has learned with Rick tomorrow when he comes home from training in LA.

Signing and other fun stuff

Well Madison is getting better and better with her signing.  She did Tree, Duck and Hat, without prompting. We went outside with the dogs and I looked at her hand and she was looking up at our maple tree and signing "tree". It was adorable.  Then when we were reading our bedtime books, I showed her a picture of a duck (a mallard) and she did the sign for Duck!  I then showed her a picture of a hat and said "What's that?" and she signed Hat right on cue.  When we turned the page she saw a rubber ducky and signed "Duck" again.  It was so cute. It shows that the repetition is paying off and she is taking it all in.

She does lots of other fun stuff too. She asks for "more" food regularly, signs for "cereal" aka Cheerios.  She can point to: nose, ear, eye, eyebrow, eyelashes and does so at the funniest times without prompting.  She does the cutest thing with her finger pointed out. My Mom says "Phone Home ET" and she points her finger and touches your pointed finger. She also has known "Bellybutton" for some time now.  This is fun, unless of course you are wearing a dress and she wants to see yours!

She tried lots of signs and sometimes they look the same but in the context and if you are paying close attention you can distinguish them.  I said something so funny sounding to her today at lunch. I was eating a cracker and she made a grunting noise and pointed to my cracker. I said "You want more?" and she didn't sign it and pointed again. I said "Use your words"! How funny is that?  She finally did and got her cracker.

Fun Madison Shots

I just wanted to post some smiles today.  Madison looks so irritated with Roxy doesn't she?

No update really, just anticipating Madison turning 10 months next week! I can hardly believe it!

Non Baby people

My dog groomer said the cutest thing to us yesterday. Keep in mind that none of the women in the place have children and have no plans to have children.  I brought Madison in to pick up my girls and they all were saying how cute she was and all.  

My groomer said "If I could be guaranteed my kid would be that cute, I might consider having one."

It was a very nice compliment and one I had never heard put quite like that. Made me feel like such a proud momma. 

She followed it up by saying I was not allowed to own scissors anymore.  I hacked Roxy's beard off because it was matted and I got frustrated and then I took her in for the groomer to fix it!  I think she still looks cute.

Signing - Update

We started the new signing series last night - A new 6 week class. It was fun and I am looking forward to learning the "higher order signs" (not related to eating, potty, dress etc) Last night it was about colors and feelings. So now when we see a flower I can say Purple Flower or White Flower etc.  The above photo is Madison's version of flower. The correct sign is to sniff while holding your hand to your nose as if sniffing a flower.  At our last class a few weeks ago we learned flower and the teacher used very fragrant roses to demonstrate the experience to them. It stuck and she has done it ever since. She will sign this when she sees pictures of flowers, flowers in the yard, in a book etc.  She added the lip thing herself.  The really funny part is that Rick farted the other day (what day doesn't he? I digress) and he started sniffing trying to get her to sniff!  I told him "NO!" the last thing I need is for my 9 month old to be sniffing when someone farts!  I just love this shot and had to share it.

I do have a fun signing story to share that just happened tonight. When it happened I was alone and didn't have anyone to tell. Soooo....I said, I am going to blog it, although I know there are only about three to four people that I know read this, they are important people and I thought would share in my joy!

I was making some mac and cheese tonight and Madison was on the floor in the kitchen with me eating crackers.  We got all done and moved into the room to get ready for bed.  We were on book number 3 when all of the sudden she started to sign "more" and look at me.  I was like "more book?" and she just kept signing more and looking at the page we were on.  Then it happened....SHE SIGNED MORE AND POINTED TO THE PICTURE OF THE CRACKER! WAS SHE ASKING FOR MORE CRACKER? It wasn't possible!  I was so excited at the possibility.  Was she TALKING TO ME?  It was just a cool experience and while I told her that "eating" was "all done" that I was "proud" of her for signing it to me.  I probably should have gotten up and given her a cracker to reinforce that I understood but I didn't....We continued to read the book (It was a picture book of all kinds of things and the page we were on was on food and had about 20 different food items, so to pick out the cracker after signing more, really impressed me.  I was so proud and it encouraged me to keep up the signing even that much more. The possibilities are endless I think!

(I wish this was her sign for "Kisses" but it isn't, that is usually either a turn of the head away, or an open mouth with tongue!) I will take it none the less! I will try to get a video of it now that I know I can successfully do it with my new camera. Her little 'sniff' is so cute and her tummy goes in and out so hard while she does it. Everything just seems so exaggerated.

Man, I was so upset tonight coming home from an awful days work and just writing about this wonderful experience of being a new Mom is so cathartic I can't even explain it.

I have never been in love like this....everyone said it would be like this...but I had no idea.

I just had to post this photo because it reminds me of those "self portraits" that people take of themselves with her little arm outstretched...It almost looks like she has her head stretched out in order to not show her double chin (although she doesn't have one)  You all know exactly what I mean!