Fast forward nine years, and we are experiencing this all over again with our second little gal. We weren't sure what to expect with Poesy either, but she has taken to signing like a pro. She can communicate "eat, drink, more, please, bird, up, down, all gone" so far. :)
(Oh, and you might notice in this first picture, someone has been perfecting her angry eyes...)
(after we got through these signs, she was done ;))
It helps so much with the frustration of knowing what she wants, but not having the words to tell us. Babies are such fascinating creatures. I'm blown away every, single day.
Do you use sign language with your baby, or know someone who does?
Do you use sign language with your baby, or know someone who does?
xoxo Katie
**This site has a nice chart for starting out if you are interested.**
they're so much smarter than some ppl may think! i teach my preschoolers how to count in my native tongue :) when i tell them to count in my native language of "hmong" they go right ahead... then when i tell them to count in "english" they're like... what's that?! lol... it's too cute.
ReplyDeletewith Parker, we really only did please, more and all done. It is so wonderful when it connects and you can actually know what they want!
ReplyDeleteI also want to squish Poe's cheeks so much! ahhhh she is so cute
we use signs too and i agree, it is so nice to know what they need. less frustration for both mama and baby! we love the baby signing time videos. they teach the signs along with songs the kids love, and i can't believe how fast lark has picked it up. baby brains are like little super absorbent sponges!
ReplyDeleteI am taking sign language in college and I love it! I could completely see how it would be helpful when you have a child. I know a lady who signs to her child that has Downs Syndrome, and I know that works very well for her.
ReplyDeleteLook up the sign for "silly." It is one of my favorites and I think it would be fun to sign to a toddler. :)
Laura
http://lauraisthriftingthroughlife.blogspot.com/
That is so awesome! I think it's amazing that kids can pick all that up and I bet it makes it so much easier. Cute pictures! :)
ReplyDeleteyes we did a bit of sign with both babies!! love her sweater. right now i'm teaching my 3 year old:
ReplyDeletei love you
peace out
rock n roll
and hang ten
:)
My aunt used this on both of her kids. I used to love being able to communicate with my cousins when they were younger. xo, rv
ReplyDeletehttp://aneclecticheap.blogspot.com/
my cousin has downs syndrome and those signs were so important when she was really little. knowing she could communicate when her verbal skills werent going to develop a the rate of a typical child was comforting to us all. now that she is older, she can talk pretty well- but i still remember my little annie in her high chair signing like a champ!
ReplyDeletexxoo
www.paperplanesandmaryjanes.com
special kid, so precious, or in short there are treasure
ReplyDeleteI love baby sign language (and Poesy! She's so cute)! No kiddoes of my own yet, but the little one I babysit for was taught signs very early on. I'm not as fluent at interpreting spoken Modern Toddler as his mama is, so signing can save much frustration for both him and me!
ReplyDeleteMy husband was taught a bit of signing when he was tiny, and it worked great for his slow-to-talk brother. We're definitely going to try it out on our future kids. :)
Wow! I had no idea. I work with a deaf gent, and he has taught me to sign fairly fluently - its unreal. I love it so much, and am teaching my Hubby and my lil sister now. Looks like I'll be using it with our future little ones too!
ReplyDeleteI can't get over how adorable Poesy is - she is seriously one of the cutest little ones I've seen. So very sweet!
Luvluv,
Sway xx
I think it's so amazing that babies can learn to sign before they can learn to talk. :) your girls are too cute.
ReplyDeleteLove and Turtledoves,
Jacqueline
my son learned the only word he needed to know, milk. it was so much better than MMMMMMM
ReplyDeleteand did take a lot of frustration out of our day.
Posey is so cute!!! love her little vintage shirt :)
I used this with my daughter who has Down's and now use it while teaching other small children with Down's - it's a fantastic tool to support language development.
ReplyDeleteadorable, adorable
ReplyDeletegrace
http://herumbrella.com
http://posheventplanning.com
http://www.shebudgets.com/author/grace-lynne-fleming/
Friends of ours are having a baby and I might get them this book--and I think babies are so clever especially when you think how quickly they can pick up things like gestures and mannerisms and things.
ReplyDeleteShe is crazy cute.
ReplyDelete♥ sécia
www.petiteinsanities.com
I worked in a Chid Care centre that used sign language with all the children, and gave the parents sheets to learn the signs too. It is really amazing how much they can pick up, and it really is so helpful! I think I definitely want to use it when I have children of my own. :)
ReplyDeleteLilly did eat and please but we started late and once she figured out that we will follow cues from her she started talking pretty quickly. And she still loves to boss us around today. haha.
ReplyDeleteMy nephew learned signs when he was little but what was funny was that even though they taught him the real signs (like the ones you posted above) he altered them and his versions were very different but always consistent so we always knew what he wanted. This weekend they were at my house. My nephew is going to turn two in a few days and his vocal vocabulary has grown by leaps and bounds but we all had a laugh when we noticed he was following me around asking for candy. My sister in law said "oh, he's breaking out the sign language" He was SO desperate for "sweets" that he was not just asking for them but signing as well :)
ReplyDeleteWe use sign language with both of our daughters. With our first we only used a few signs such as milk, eat, and more. Our second daughter (at 20 mo. old) still is not speaking very clearly and it is difficult to know what she wants, so we do use it more with her. It has helped so much! I feel awful any time she tries to communicate with us and we can't understand her.
ReplyDeleteshe is soo cute!!
ReplyDeleteShe is so adorable! I might have to look into that book sometime!
ReplyDelete<3 Jjanga
www.sayhelloandsmile.blogspot.com
A little girl who I nannied for was taught sign language before she could talk, and it was amazing to be able to communicate with her! Babies are ready for language at such a young age; it's so great to be able to give them a way to communicate before they are able to do so verbally.
ReplyDeletex Katherine
I hadn't even heard of this before (never having raised a baby) but what an amazing thing. Something to remember for when I have a little one of my own!
ReplyDeleteHow stinkin adorable! She is a beautiful baby!
ReplyDeleteI work at a school, and one teacher teaches some of her kindergarteners to sign and (who teaches a computer class and gets all the grades daily) thought it worked so well I got the rest of the kindergarteners to know at least "bathroom." Its so nice for those little bodies who are always very aware till the Last Minute of what they need to be able to communicate quickly!
ReplyDeleteYay baby signs!! We did baby signs with Jonah! We loved it and I personally believe that it really impacted his language skills in a very positive way. He's pre-reading and he's not even 4 yet.
ReplyDeletewe use some baby signing. mostly because all our children did kindermusik and signing is incorporated into those music classes. i just love the "more" sign. jess (17 mo) still does that all the time. these pics are so cute ;)
ReplyDeleteSo so cute! We never did signing, though a few of ours friends did and it seemed like it worked wonders for them. Love her angry eyes. :)
ReplyDeleteAdorable! My sisters both taught their daughters to sign for more and please. It definitely helped calm down some frustrating/confusing situations for this auntie!
ReplyDeleteyes! one of our dear friends taught his baby sign language right away and he swears it made their entire time without actually speaking so so much easier! hearing his testimony and so many others makes me want to teach our future babies sign language for sure! i think it's so amazing and really shows you how smart these little ones really are from the moment they're born...i imagine the communication barrier is just as frustrating for them as it is for us.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.invisiblechildren.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
ReplyDeletePlease read( :
that's fascinating!! sounds like such a great solution to the "talking problem". definitely putting this in my "for future parenting" book.
ReplyDeleteWe use sign language and it works wonders for us. Oskar's favourite signs: tractor, train and milk.
ReplyDeleteLast month I posted this on my blog (my blog is in Dutch, but luckily sign language is universal...): http://froeliesjes.wordpress.com/2012/02/03/nog-snoep-in-bsl/ Oskar signs: more and candy.
Poesy is so darn cute!!! :)
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law, along with our really close friends, all taught their babies to sign. As someone who wasn't with them every single day, when I watched them, it was helpful for me when they signed instead of trying to interpret what they were saying. Also, my niece wasn't a big verbal communicator for a really long time, but was a signing whiz. However, when she was ready to talk, she did just fine.
When my husband and I have kids, we're definitely teaching our kids to sign!
Oh goodness! I did baby signs with my oldest, but it never occurred to me to take pictures! What a treasured keepsake! My 5 month old will be ready to sign soon, and I'll have to remember to document it!
ReplyDeleteMy youngest sister has Down syndrome, and she has always signed, as have many of the kids at her school. She's 14 now, and is really high-functioning, but still signs when she's feeling shy or sad.
ReplyDeleteOh wow, she is precious. And I'm LOVIN' the "angry eyes" Good job momma!
ReplyDelete- Sarah
http://agirlintransit.blogspot.com
What a cutie and her sweater is so sweet. We did a few signs with our littles and it was very helpful. Then they stared talking and we just stopped. But my son is learning some more in school right now and it makes me want to spend some time learning together. All three of mine love "signing time" on PBS too. : )
ReplyDeleteKatie, you don't know how much this post excites me! I'm not yet a mother, but I am a huge advocate of baby sign language and fully intend to use it! And can I just say how adorable Poesy is? Oh, my! Those eyes, those cheeks! And of course, that smart little signing brain! :-)
ReplyDeleteHappy Friday Eve, Katie!
You have the cutest baby!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who's a sign language interpreter and her ex-husband is deaf, so her three kids grew up signing fluently as they learned English. It's pretty amazing.
ReplyDeletethat is so clever! how wonderful!
ReplyDelete-Ani x
Gosh!!! It's been a while since I last visited, but holy geesh!!! She is sooooo adorable. Signing was such a fabulous way to communicate with my lil one at the time....."all done" was her favorite sign!!! {mine too. hehehehe}
ReplyDeleteHow great! My husband's first language was sign language because his mom is deaf, so he's been trying to teach me to sign. When I was working in a kindergarten class they taught all of the signs to go with sight words, and that helped me a lot, learning at that pace. There's also a tv show, I think called Signing Time, which I've watched a bit and that helps too because they do signing with songs. It's great to see how useful it is... I know when we have a kid, he or she will be an expert!
ReplyDeleteI am 100,000,000% pro baby signing!!! I taught my first daughter to sign when she was a baby back in 2006. She started signing at around 9 months old by the time she was a year old she knew over 60 different signs. We also used the Signing Time dvds which she LOVED! But unfortunately I got ALOT of negativity from people including my own family. I was made fun of constantly and told that I should just teach her to talk instead since she is a hearing child. But the benefits of signing are vast. Its great that you are doing it! And it makes everything so much less frustrating when they can communicate their desires :)
ReplyDeleteI'm dying! Poe is SO CUTE!!! I'm trying to teach Margaux a few signs but so far she just looks at me like "what the heck are you doing mom?"
ReplyDeleteMy family actually speaks sign language on a regular basis because my family has a lot of deaf people in it, and my mom taught my brother and I sign language when we were babies. I also found out later there's an adorable show called Signing Time that teaches little ones ASL! It makes me super happy to see that mamas are teaching their babies ASL. I feel like it's such an under appreciated language
ReplyDeleteMy son had a trach until 2, so we used baby sign language for a while. It was so great being able to communicate with him. Now I work with cognitively disabled students and a few of them use signs to communicate. I think please is super adorable. :)
ReplyDeleteMy nephew is three now and still uses some sign language (a la "please"), but only to accentuate that he really. wants. whatever you have.
ReplyDeleteThat is so cool! I wish we would've taught my niece some signs. She was a late talker, and it always made things so difficult!
ReplyDeletexo Heather
http://ahopelessnotebook.blogspot.com/
my niece whom I nanny for has this book, and she knows all these too! Great book!
ReplyDeleteI bought baby sign language books while I was still pregnant with my daughter, and broke them out a bit early... around eight months - she never seemed to get very interested and would much rather have me read "Peek-a-Who" to her... every day... atleast twenty times. She is now ten months old, and I am thinking about giving those books a go again - especially after reading this post! Your daughter is adorable and I love that sweater!
ReplyDeleteI'm a nanny and have taught baby signs to all of my charges. I have a daughter now and at 3 months we have already started signing to her.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you works for your family :)
I loved that you wrote "fast forward nine years"...I have a 10 and 3 yr old and it is so weird coming across the things you forgot about with so much time in between. I love it, almost like having two first babies! Not to mention the assistance of my big girl helper...enjoy your blog!
ReplyDeleteMartha
http://overnightdelight.blogspot.com/
Hope is adorable! We also used the same signs with our twin boys - Eat, Please, and Milk were in high usage.
ReplyDeletexo
cortnie
She is sooo cutie!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't sign with our first son...he was an early (and constant) talker...(we call him CNN - all talk, all the time)
Maybe we will teach this to our little guy, he is only 4 months...
I am your latest follower! So happy to *meet* you!
We sign with our 15 month old too. His favorite is "all done" which he does as soon as he's put in a high chair, car seat or stroller. The funny thing is that along the way I've kind if made up my own signs since I didn't know them all so we have our own secret language :)
ReplyDeleteYes! We just taught my youngest Evangeline (going to be ONE next week!) to sign "more" and she picked it up in less than a day. When we ask her if she wants "more", she does the sign without prompting now!
ReplyDeleteI intend to teach her other words. It helps so much to ease their frustrations with communicating. <3
I've always thought signing was a waste since by the time they're taught sign language they might as well learn how to "speak'. If you're an attached mother, and from I can see you are, you do not need a foreign medium between you and your baby to know what he/she means. Every baby develops its special sign language of its own I am sure any hands on mom understands it. It's like making you and your husband speak a foreign language among you to understand each other better... But to be completely honest, that's my personal theory, I haven't tried sign language to know whether it's worth a shot.
ReplyDeletei sign with my baby. and i love it. as someone who has a communication degree background, i LOVE knowing that i can further communicate with him AND remove any barriers to the flow of him communicating with me, etc. it is WONDERFUL. i am encouraged to see you doing it too.
ReplyDeleteI don't have kids but I'm really interested in how children communicate at a young age, I like the idea of sign language because both the parents and the children have to learn the signs, so it's a learning experience for both parties. Also, awwwwwwwwwwwh, so cute! :D
ReplyDeleteLauren http://teaforowls.blogspot.com/ xox
I'm taking an ASL 2 class at my high school and it really is a lovely language. I helped teach my niece some baby signs, and did you know that animals can learn sign language as well?
ReplyDelete