Baby, Baby, Baby Signing Time

Not to brag but I do a lot of good things for Skye. At least I try to and I think for the most part I'm successful. She has health insurance; she has clothes and toys; I read, sing and play outside with her; I make sure she takes her daily vitamin; I brush her teeth. Most things like that she doesn't even know I do. Except for the reading books and playing stuff. She does love reading her books on the bed!! And of course there are the days when it slips my mind and I forget to do some of these things and I end up feeling awful about it.

But if I had to list in order of importance the things I do for her right under breastfeeding (which is a blog all in itself too that I will eventually get to) I would list teaching her sign language. This has been such a blessing in our house and I would encourage any parent to explore this communication tool. It has empowered Skye and has given her such confidence in her everyday activities.

My mom used to work with a hearing-impaired gentleman, Drew. I thought he was just so cool and he was so sweet to me. Thanks to him I learned how to sign the alphabet and I knew how to say, "I love you." I told Drew this a lot since it was basically all I really knew how to say. Keep in mind, I was only 5 or 6 years old at the time.

I always wanted to become more proficient at it. I checked out children's books at the library and learned a few songs in jr. high choir in sign language but thats really about it. I knew if I could sign my ABCs I could spell anything.

When my friend, Jenn, had her first child she told me she was teaching him sign language. I thought that was kinda cool but I didn't really understand why she would be teaching her son, who could hear perfectly, how to sign. I just chalked it up to her being a little on the hippy-side. (I only say that cause she often claims herself and her husband to be.) She knows how much I admire her.

When Skye was born, a technician came into my hospital room and gave her a hearing test. She passed with flying colors. This test cost me about $100, it wasn't covered by my insurance. I could have had it administered for free at the health department, where I worked, and as you can see, I'm still a bit irked by this but I need to stay focused here. Now she is a little older than 2 and her hearing is keen. Sign language is for any baby though; hearing or hearing-impaired.

A few months after I had Skye I found out about a free sign language class for babies sponsored by the Oklahoma City-County Health Dept. It was great. They passed out sheets with a few words that would be appropriate for babies. Eat, more, milk, blanket, mommy, daddy, thank you, please, cracker, ball...They told us to pick one or two words at first that would be helpful if the baby knew and use them frequently. Even though babies dont have the motor skills to do this yet, they will eventually get the motor skills and more importantly they get the motor skills before they develop the motor skills for speech.

Just like a baby has to crawl before they walk and walk before they run, sign language is like the crawl phase before the speaking phase. The studies on this are pretty interesting but kinda boring for the purpose of a blog.

The class also suggested to try to include her other caregivers in this so she would be constantly exposed to it. My mom didn't seem too interested in it at first but quickly changed her mind.

The few words I picked out for Skye were: More, Thank you, Ball, Eat & Drink. (Well, technically the first sign I used was "I love you." When I had to return to work after my maternity leave I would drop her off at my moms and smother her with goodbye hugs, kisses and "I Love You.") When I used these signs with her she would look at me very intently. You could see her thinking and could tell she was trying to figure out what I was doing and probably thought I was a little on the crazy side. One day I taught her "cracker" and she and my mom started cracking up at me. They both thought I was silly then. Hit your elbow with your palm and thats cracker. It is kinda funny looking.

I decided to go to the library and see if I could find anything about sign language. I was looking for those children books I used to use. I found a Baby Einstein DVD though with Marlee Matlin on it. Skye has never been much of a TV person. She wants to read books and play music and go outside. But she LOVED this DVD.

Mom and I had never seen her sit so still for so long. I had to eventually return the DVD. Mom and I were worried this would upset Skye. When I returned it I found a few more DVDs called "Baby Signing Time." We didn't know if Skye would like the "Baby Signing Time" show but it was worth a shot. Again, she sat and watched these very intently. Mom and I watched them with her, cause obviously if she knew how to sign but we didn't it would be kinda pointless.

After hours of DVDs and working with her I caught a glimpse of her signing "more." WOW!! She had already been speaking verbally a little bit and for some reason her first sign was just as exciting!! You can bet she got MORE!! And more words were soon to follow. I was so proud of her.

At first she used her signs more to emphasize or clarify her verbal words. She would be wanting something and would come to me just whining about it. I reminded her to use her words and she instantly dropped that "whiny" tone in her voice. This also gave her such security knowing she could communicate with me clearly before she was 10 months old. More, eat, water, milk & cracker seemed to be her favorite words. O, and bath. She LOVED her bath time!!! You could tell how proud she was of herself to have learned something and apply it. She quickly understood that this was a way to communicate and get what she wanted. She was so cute mumbling "more" just like Oliver in the porridge line at the orphanage and tapping her little fingers together to sign "more."

One night we were putting Skye to sleep and we had her laying down on one couch and I sat across the room on the other couch. She was upset cause she didn't want to go to sleep. The lights were dimmed but still bright enough for her to see me signing. My mom sat right by her rocking her and I sat across the room signing "good girl" to her over and over. I never once verbally spoke it. It actually seemed to be soothing to her, maybe just because it was a distraction. I knew she knew what I was saying and after I signed it a few times, sure enough she mumbled, "Good girl." It was a precious little moment between mother and daughter being able to communicate with her across the room.

Her sign language vocabulary grew very quickly and soon was larger than the words she knew how to speak. Today she knows hundreds of signs. I stopped counting after 200 and that was like 8 months ago. Its probably closer to 500 now?? amazing huh?!?! The first time she signed "I Love You" was so special!!

OETA has started to air Baby Signing Time so I DVR it and this is basically how we start our day now. She not only knows how to sign but can read sign language too. Shes only 2 and knows her ABCs, colors, manners, common objects, activities, different vehicles, family relations (mommy, daddy, grandma...). And she would have eventually learned all these things anyways, but I'm confident she is way ahead of the power curve because of sign language.

This show also has the sweetest songs on it as a way to teach the signs and Skye just loves to sing to them. When she sings her manners song I end up just beaming with pride =)

Skye would go in for her wellness checks and the nurses would ask me if she could speak 3 words yet. Uhmm, yeah she knows like 10 and can sign 15. She was always ahead in her developmental stages from what I could gather at these check ups.  When I go places with Skye people comment on how social she is and friendly and how clear her diction is. Its not perfect by any means. She is after all only two. But people will tell me for a two year old how clear her words are. I never thought anything of it cause I dont really have another 2 yr old to compare her to on that kind of level. So to hear a total stranger notice something like that says a lot. And some of these strangers are day care providers at church who do work around other 2 year olds and can see the difference. And I cant express how it warms my heart to see her be so friendly and outgoing with other children and adults. I think she always would have been a sweetheart but I know in my heart sign language brought this confidence to the surface quicker than normal and amplified it over and over.

A few of my family members have asked why I taught her sign language and seemed a little confused since she is not deaf. I wanted to write this for them so I could fully explain the blessings this skill has brought us. And if anyone reads this and also is thinking about teaching sign language to their children, I highly recommend it. Its been a fun thing for me,Skye and my mom to do together and I just cant say enough about Rachel, Alex, Leah and Hopkins and all the Signing Time cast/creators.

The link is to their website but check your library first or local PBS station. There are also small clips on Youtube and you can like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter. I dont get any points for promoting them, I just wanted to share them with you and your family and hopefully your family will get the same enjoyment out of it like we have.


Baby Signing Time