Keira is 19-months-old now and beginning to say more and more words. It is so exciting to hear her little voice and fun to decipher the new words she is saying in her cute baby-babble language. She is now referring to Noah and I as "Mommy" and "Daddy" (rather than "Mama" and "Dada") and other new words include bubble, mo (more), boo (book), la-la (laundry--a favorite activity!), ight (light), and I'm sure there are others that I'm not remembering right now.
Although Keira is talking more and more now, she still loves to use her signs. I lost count of how many signs she knows, but it's probably somewhere around 50-60 signs. We started teaching her a few basic signs when she was around 6-months-old, at the same time we started giving her solid food. We tried teaching her "more" and "eat" and a few other things, but we didn't really get much of a response at that point.
When Keira was 11-months-old, we met Joann Woolley, owner/instructor of Sign4Baby, at the local library. She was doing her monthly story time, complete with fun songs and stories with signing throughout. After the story time, we signed up for Joann's 6-week sign class and loved it so much we signed up for the next 6-week series after the first set ended. The classes were so much fun for all of us, but I really think it "jump-started" Keira's interest in signing. She was enthralled with Joann's use of sign during the classes, in conjunction with the fun songs, stories, games, and other activities used to teach the signs for topics of interest to babies, such as animals, food, toys, colors, family members, etc. One of the first things we learned in class was to make signing fun (duh!). So, instead of focusing on signs like "more" and "eat" (which weren't too fun for Keira because food is not motivating for her), we practiced the signs for things she was interested in like animals (especially "dog"), toys (book, bubbles, ball), etc. Infact, one of her first signs was "friend" (a somewhat difficult sign for a baby to do), but she picked it up quickly because one of her favorite books at the time repeatedly said the word "friend." As we learned the signs through the classes, we continually practiced them at home with Keira, while playing and doing other things of interest and her signing really took off around 12-months.
Another thing we loved about taking the signing classes was the interaction with other parents and the one-on-one attention Joann gave us to discuss questions/problems with signing and even to discuss parenting issues in general. Besides her knowledge and experience with signing, she has a wealth of information regarding lots of other parenting tips and tricks that are interspersed throughout the classes. This was a big help too, especially as first-time parents!
So, yes, in case you hadn't noticed, I am a huge fan of signing! Of course, it's a valuable language for a lot of reasons, but especially for babies/toddlers to use to communicate before they are able to talk (i.e. request things they want, but also to share about things in the environment that interest them). If you (or someone you know) are considering teaching your baby to sign--do it! You won't regret it! And if you're in the San Diego area, check out the Sign4Baby classes (and free story times!)! I cannot recommend Joann enough! Here's her website: http://www.sign4baby.com/
Here are a few pictures we were able to capture of Keira's signing in action:
Her first sign: MILK!
(This picture also won us some awesome prizes in the Sign4Baby photo contest!)
Can you guess what she's signing?--AGAIN!
Although this looks a bit gangsta-ish, she's actually signing AIRPLANE
If you've made it this far, thanks for letting me take the time to brag on my daughter and to share about something I'm passionate about! Happy signing!
