Tuesday, May 7, 2013

am i getting through? hello??

Baby Sign Language.

It's all the rage, people. Teach your little tyke to communicate their thoughts and feelings before turning the ripe old age of ONE! As any momma can tell you, this is a serious lure. 98% of our day is trying to figure out what the little squishy requires. 

Are you hungry??

Are you wet???

Are you tired????

WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH YOU?!?!?!?!

It is seriously the temptation of a lifetime to taunt a mother with that... ooohhh your baby will be able to speak to you! He will tell you he loves you on a daily basis, followed by, "Please mum, can I have some more?"

But seriously, all kidding aside. I have taken a running leap onto the bandwagon that is baby sign language. They say (who is they? really?) to start when your baby is born, and they should be signing back to you by the time their first birthday rolls around, or possibly even earlier. This is well before most children say their first word, around 2 years old. Then they taunt you with these incredible videos of small children signing amazing things to their parents.



D and I have started watching about 15 minutes of Baby Einstein's Baby Sign Language every morning, and trying to incorporate a few new signs into our daily routine each week. Let me tell you, he loves the videos. I was always that mom that said he would never ever watch TV, but watching that little squishy face laugh hysterically at sock puppets bopping each other on the head is the most adorable thing I've ever seen, and I cannot take that away from him. Not to mention, it's super educational, and at most we watch 15 minutes a day. 

But.

And here is the huge, giant BUT.

Teaching a baby ASL is HARD FREAKING WORK. For instance, mom has to learn all the signs. Then mom has to remember to use the signs every single time. So every time he has a bottle, I should sign "eat" and "milk". Every time I change his diaper, I should sign "change". This is incredibly hard to do, let me tell you. I probably remember to sign to him about 60% of the time. 

Which brings us to obstacle number two. 

The blank stare.

My happy, smiley baby will wipe all expression off his face and stare at me like the cheese has fallen off the cracker every time I sign to him. Which makes me wonder, does he know what I'm doing and just think I'm incredibly dumb, or am I getting through at all? Am I just confusing him? This is definitely not an instant gratification endeavor.

Alas, I will probably not know for several more months. But I am greatly looking forward to the first time he signs back to me, "Mom, seriously. Stop."




Are any of you moms out there using ASL with your baby? Are you having success, or difficulty?



(PS. Check back tomorrow! We're having our first GIVEAWAY!!!)

4 comments:

  1. We thought about teaching our son sign language but opted not to. We thought it might make him put off talking, if he didn't really need to use words to communicate (I have no idea if that's a possible effect, I was probably overthinking it). He said his first words well before his first birthday (he's now 21 months) and he's starting to use full sentences. It works for a lot of people though (including our now 3 year old niece). I must admit, it would've been nice if he could've told us what he wanted back then! :)

    Erika

    ReplyDelete
  2. It also helps (if you dont want to learn from tvs) to have friends who know how to sign.... it actually does work as my friend Dan is partially deaf and he has taught his 2 year old daugter how to sign several things to him! He has taught me a few things as well but i dont think teaching your child to swear in sign language is appropriate XD they also have these programs that are supposed to help with language and math early in life as well, teaching kids how to spell words and multiply simple numbers before they can talk! I guess it just matters how much pressure you want to put on them and yourself, like you said you have to remember everything as well... and thos little sponges soak up everything.... Dans little girl knows who i am, remembers that my hair used to be a different color almost a year ago, she even knows my ringtone on her moms phone and thats just stuff shes picked up on her own imagine how much they pick up on when u are trying to teach them things! Ive seen 6 month olds swimming by themselves, mom or dad will let them go in the water and they have learned to float on their backs and cry until they are picked up again... so dont be discouraged it is getting through to him and one day he will do it, look at how long it takes them to say first words or take first steps... everything takes time =)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Several kids at work in the infant rooms do baby signs, its really cute,and really does work and it makes it so the babies aren't as frustrated waiting for you to figure out what they need. keep it uppppp!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. i taught infant sign language at my previous job and it does work! many signed very common words. my son would sign: "more" and please by the age of one....and he still signs now even though he speaks in full sentences. just keep with it you will see amazing results. :)

    ReplyDelete