Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Baby Signs

We started baby sign language when Alyssa was only a few months old.  We started simple and basic.  Signed and said milk.  Gave her the bottle.  Signed and said milk.  Gave her the bottle.  Every.Single.Feeding.  She picked up on it pretty quick and it was a life saver!!!  When my baby with awful reflux who cried and screamed for no reason would sign milk as she cried and screamed we immediately got her a bottle.

From there, we kept it fairly simple.  Eat.  More.  All Done.  By her first birthday, she knew 10 signs (mostly animals).  Now she knows oodles and oodles of signs.  And she really knows them!  I'll ask her to sign something and I'll show her a sign and ask her what it is I'm signing.  It's a game.  She loves it!  She wants to know more.  There are many days I have to look up a new sign because she wants to know it.

Off the top of my head she knows:  milk, eat, more, all done, drink, cheese, cracker, cereal, please, thank you, sorry, don't like, pancake, apple, banana, black, blue, brown, red, pink, book, ball, play, party, help, hurt, hungry, bath, bird, giraffe, elephant, zebra, cat, dog, tiger, lion, fish, cow, horse, duck, monkey, moon, stars, swing, slide, dance, potty, mommy, daddy, brother, sister, boy, girl, baby, friend, kiss, i love you.

Now I hope James will catch on too.  It really is helpful before they know all the words to communicate.

Disclaimer:  This blog would be more interesting with a video or at least some pictures, but my 2.5 year old will not "perform" for me...especially in front of the camera.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Water Babies

Both Alyssa and James love the water. 




Baths, Pools, Ocean. 



It doesn't matter. 




I have water babies.