Sign Baby Sign

I think that sign language for babies and toddler is great. Very few people in Norway have heard of it and I have yet to meet anyone else who has done it. The most common response is to ask if she or anyone in our family is deaf.

We started doing sign language with Katherine when she was about 6 months old. At that time we did the basic mealtime signs. I even took a 6 week class. I got frustrated because she was not doing the signs back. Finally she did a few. We took another class. It was awesome and the timing was much better. I guess Katherine was 10-11 months and more receptive to learning the signs. At about 13-14 months she started doing a lot.

Now she is a sponge and will repeat and remember signs after we do them only a few times. She knows 50-60 of them and is limited only by the fact that I don't know more. I am always trying to remember to go online to look them up.

Some may wonder why you would do sign language with a baby who hears in a family of people who hear. Babies are able and wanting to communicate long before they are able to physically form words. Their motor skills are ahead so they are able to communicate with their hands earlier. It can be really helpful as a parent to know what your child is trying to say when their words all sound the same. "ba" can be book, bear, bottle, bug and many other things but she knows those signs so when she says "ba" and does the sign for "book", I know she wants to read. It also eases their frustration.

Knowing sign language also helps me to realize how much Katherine knows and notices. She will do a sign for "monkey" and I will look around for a monkey and see Curious George on the cereal box. This kind of thing happens almost daily. She can't say the word "monkey" so without sign language I would not know that she is so observant and she might get frustrated that I don't know what she is excited about.

If you have a baby or toddler, I highly recommend doing sign language with your child. There are all kinds of websites and books that you can get if you are good as a self learner. We also love the Signing Time Videos. There are all kinds of classes too. They are a lot of fun and very motivational as a parent to learn and do the signs. The class I took with Kari through the local Kindermusik was great. If you live in my area and are looking for something this fall, the next round of classes begin in mid-October.

To show off my sweet girl, here is a video of Katherine signing, mainly animal signs which are her favorite. She also knows a lot of signs related to eating and diapering.