"Of all the animals, the BOY is the most unmanageable!" ~ Plato

10.09.2007

Signs

When Tanner was just getting out of the toddler stage, I heard about baby sign language. I thought, "Wow, what a great idea! I wish I had done something like that with my boys." Well, I now have that opportunity. I've picked up a baby sign language book from the library and I'm going to attempt to teach Brennen some useful signs. Eat, drink, tired, more, please......just the basics. Babies develop the large motor skills (hand movements) before the language skills so it's supposed to be able to help you communicate with your baby far earlier and have them frustrated and crying far less. He doesn't cry very often but he does get frustrated at times. I can see it in his face. He gets SO excited when I figure out what it is he is wanting. So, anyone ever teach their baby sign language before? Any useful tips for me before we really jump in? I think it'll be fun! I think the hardest part will be teaching the rest of the family so they can understand him too! LOL

5 comments:

Amie said...

We taught Isaac some signs. It was neat, but we never did do it with any of the other boys. It is amazing how much they can communicate before the words come though!

Kelli said...

I taught both my boys a few signs. Mostly "more" and "please". We tried "Thank you" and "Help" but those never really caught on. Just wait until they really get it and then want something really really badly. Their little arms will just be a'wavin "more please" in the most animated fashion. It is adorable!!

Hope you are all feeling better.

andria said...

Adam can sign really well. I started teaching him when we started him on cereal. When he was about 18 months he could sign full conversations. It was quite impressive. I took a sign language course in college and had the text left over and just chose a new one every day. Also, signing time on PBS helped a whole lot. He's learning to speak more thanks to the speech therapist, but she still encourages the signing and he still uses it. I plan to start with elizabeth soon too.

Amie said...

I only remember doing please, thank you, and all done (which was the most useful). I thought teaching him really early to say please and thank you would really make a difference, but it didn't. He still has to be reminded like his brothers.

Melissa said...

We do some signs with our kids as well. I studied sign for several years and found it very useful.