As Babe-O does the whole language development thing, I thought watching my mouth was all I really had to worry about. No such luck.
Just like those irritating "body language experts" on TV are always saying, a big chunk of communication is non-verbal. (A bigger chunk if you're in traffic. And an even bigger chunk if you're in traffic and pissed.)
Regardless, lots of child development types say that babies can pick up quite a bit of sign language even before they can talk. So we got Babe-O a sign language book and started doing a handful of signs with her: stuff like mommy, daddy, dog, baby, diaper (hell, what else is there?).
But first, let me point out that this isn't bona-fide American Sign Language or anything like that…it is super basic, super simplified, easily recognizable baby sign language.
The reason I mention this is because for about the first week of doing the signs, I thought we were teaching her American Sign Language. That lasted until I made some offhand remark to Mom-O to the effect of "Wow, I can't believe that deaf people really stick their tongues and pant when referring to a dog." Although my wife wasn't able to tell me the proper ASL gesture for "dog," she seemed awfully certain that it didn't involve barking or panting. She also seemed vaguely concerned about my role in Babe-O's early development education, but that's another story.
Anyway, Babe-O has been learning baby sign language and her baby sign language first word was "Mommy," which involves spreading out your fingers and poking yourself in the side of the head with your thumb like you're trying to flag down the short bus. It was very cool to be holding her and watch her reach for her Mom and make the sign. That girl's wicked smart. I look forward to seeing what else she comes up with.
Oh, and I forget the name of the book we're using. It's big and comes with flash cards (don't you hate flash cards?). I just used this picture because it humorously implies that your baby is an idiot.
[photo from http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51H8knQKylL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU01_AA115_.jpg]
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I find "more" very useful. S uses it when he's eating and wants more of whatever he just finished.
ReplyDelete@jude
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a good one. I'll move that one up in the curriculum (right after "my diaper is showing signs of stress and will fail completely upon what I'm about to do in it).