Baby Sign Language Thread #3

[Chicane]

great idea...going to try it.
thanks!

[*Ali*]

Love the baby orange idea.

[x95stocchier]

Chicane-We just signed orange, but then, mandarins are pretty much all we gave him in that category, so it wasn't confusing.  If you do regular oranges too, the I love the baby orange idea!


Amy-I started signing to DS at 6 months and at 13 months he finally signed back....We did the standard eating signs (milk, all done, more etc)  but once I knew he understood them (even though he didn't sign back...like he would come crawling over when I signed milk, or open his mouth when I signed more) I started adding more signs.  I found the first sign he signed back was something really important to him, which happened to be "outside".  For my DD we started with the same 3 eating signs, but the first thing she signed back was kitty.  Either way, once they got going it snowballed and they were both signing a dozen words within another month.  Good luck!  Nothing is better than finally being able to communicate!

[timmysmommy]

Thanks everyone!  So glad to hear it has been such a positive experience for everyone!  I love the baby orange idea!  So yesterday T really started doing the more sign for real.  He did everyone he wanted more food or I said more.  There was no mistaking it.  We try all done, but he is trying to say it instead of sign- which is fine with me.  He only makes d sounds so he says ah da.  Very similar to dada and baba(bye-bye).  I would think he would get all the food signs first because that is when I sign the most.  We have great eye contact and he is watching my every move.  The rest of the day he is moving too fast to catch his eye lol!  So excited to be communicating!  I've tried the milk sign, but he already has his own signal for bfing-  he whines until I pick him up then he turns horizontal and gets into position lol!  It is clear as day

[Chicane]

i started a sign for BFing too but DS had his own ideas...he now sticks his tongue in and out when its bf time...so i started doing it too!

[x95stocchier]

that is too funny.  I always just sign milk for bf.

[*Ali*]

I just pat my chest for BF and Cadan does it too when I pick him up.
Cadan has also started doing the sleep sign when I tell him it is sleepy time.

[Khalam's Mama]

K started signing potty from 10months think we prob started around 6mo. It was about 13 months before he had several signs.
Hoover in my sign book is a fist like holding a small hand held hoover and moving forwards and back. pasta is like both hands in the v shape and lifting up like dishing up spaghetti with 2 forks. We also do dirty right palm rubbing back  of left hand. That is K's most recent sign. I am running out of new sign ideas cos K is saying so much now. When do you stop? I guess for harder words. We also use the same sign for all types of orange fruit. We don't really do the big ones though - too hard to peel.

[Chicane]

My sister did signing with both her girls and they just phased it out themselves when they knew enough words. So I guess just keep going and K will stop doing them when he's ready. Interestingly, the signs would come back if my niece was tired or sometimes just out of the blue, and when her sister was born and ready to start signing she remembered them all and helped teach her little sister! So cute.

If your LO modifies a sign (eg. biscuit is palm on elbow but DS does palm on wrist) do you guys continue with the original sign or adopt your LOs modified sign?

 

[Jiinx]

I just continue with what I was doing. So the original sign. She doesn't do cracker (knocking on elbow) but instead does some sort of knocking on her arm. She also does soooo many signs a little off but I just continue to do it the way I learned it as I'd get so confused with all the variations.

[RachelC]

Do the original sign.  They think they are doing the sign correctly, the way you do it.  If you change it to be the way he is doing it, it will confuse them.

[firsttimemummy]

I found that DS did some signs "wrongly" but as his dexterity improved he got them right .... I suppose it's the same as the advice not to copy how your LO is saying a word (eg if they say "bo bo" instead of "bottle", they think they are saying "bottle" so get confused if you then call it a "bo bo") ...

[x95stocchier]

Ditto, we always continue to sign the "correct" way.  Just like a mispronounced word, I'd repeat back: "Oh, you want a cracker?" signing it correctly.

We continued to sign with DS a long time and added more signs even as he was building a verbal vocabulary.  Once he started to constantly say a word we just sort of lost the sign, though they also came back for him (sometimes easier than us) when we started signing with #2.  He is excited about teaching our new baby signs. 

[firsttimemummy]

DS is 2 and still signs words that we don't understand when he says them .... I am always amazed at how many he remembers (he knows at least 50!) even though we don't actively use them.  Looking forward to seeing how he and LO2 sign together - maybe a secret language for them???

[x95stocchier]

It's only a secret if you don't know the signs too, so better brush up, lol