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.