A Day in the Life of Baby Sign Language

Shared by: Christy Edwards

Subject: Daily Signing

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As you wake up and are getting dressed and ready for the day, you hear your toddler in his room making those familiar early morning "I''m awake" sounds. You peek in his room only to find him lying in bed practicing his signs. You hear his efforts at saying "Mommy" and "Daddy" while he does the sign language for those words and you immediately know who he is thinking about. You walk in and say "good morning" with hugs and kisses only to be greeted with the sign for "diaper change". You shower him with more hugs and kisses as you head over to lay him down and change his diaper. You open his diaper and say "Whoo-wee! You sure DID need a diaper change (followed by appropriate sign) didn''t you?"Once the diaper change is over, you get flashed the sign for "eat" so you know your little one is ready for some breakfast. You both sit down for breakfast and halfway through, that thirsty little booger signs to let you know that he needs more milk. Once he polishes off a second helping of milk, it''s off to play time. Your little one has been playing for a while when all of a sudden you hear screams and crying coming from the other room. You rush in to see what is wrong only to find your little one sitting on the floor crying. You look into those precious eyes and ask "What''s wrong? What happened?" Sobbing, he replies with the sign for pain over his left knee. You look and, sure enough, there is a scrap there that is bleeding. You take him into the bathroom to take care of his "boo boo" with band aids and kisses. When you finish, your son looks up at you, does the sign for "thank you" and runs off to go play again. You may think this is a story that was made up and isn''t real, but these are things that I, as a signing parent, experience on a daily basis. Other signing families experience these things as well. They have babies that can tell them their needs and desires. They don''t have to "guess" why their son or daughter is crying. Their child can tell them, with signs, what it is they want even before the muscles in their mouths are strong enough to form the words. Sure, teaching Baby Sign Language takes patience and commitment. But the rewards far outweigh the effort that is involved. No words can possibly express the feeling that you feel when you know that you have given your child a way to communicate with you before they have mastered speech. It''s practical, natural, and beautiful and I am so thankful that we were able to use it to communicate with our children. I''d never want to go back to the "old" way of doing things. Would you?This article was written by Christy Edwards, a wife, mother of two signing children, and a Baby Sign Language Specialist. She conducts local Baby Sign Language workshops in NC and offers informative Baby Sign Language eBooks on her website. You can learn more about Baby Sign Language at http://www.babysigningstars.com.

http://www.babysigningstars.com