Let's Talk Baby Talk!

We all know that babies aren't born knowing how to talk. The only language skills they possess are crying and cooing. How often do we wish that they could just tell us what they are trying to say? While I do not claim to be an expert at all I do believe that being a good parent involves a lot of interaction, talking, listening and communicating from the moment they are born.

Last Christmas I was given Sara Bingham's book, "The Baby Signing Book". I was excited because I always wanted to try baby sign language and now I had it right at my finger tips. If I have to be real and honest with you, I will have to admit to not reading the book cover to cover. Nor was I as consistent as I could have and should have been with signing to my baby, but when he was ten months old and signed "eat" very deliberately to tell me he was hungry, I realized a whole new world of communication had just opened up for us, and it included a lot less tears to be shed on his soft kissable cheeks.

No classes are necessary to teach your child this language skill. The afore-mentioned book has more than 350 illustrated signs in it, which more than suffices for a baby vocabulary. I keep it handy to look up new words now that Jimmy is eager to expand his communication abilities. Another great resource is the internet, ASLpro.com being a good place to start.

Recently I was visiting with a mom of an extremely expressive 9 month-old. The topic of sign language came up and she regrettably stated that she just did not have the time to work with him on that. But this is what is so cool with babies and sign language.... It does not take extra time. It's so easy! It only requires remembering and being attentive. 

Remember to sign things like "eat" when you feed him, or "all done" when it is gone, and so on and so forth. Make it a habit as you go about your day to sign words you want him to learn and understand when you talk to him. But no need to stress if you feel you are not being consistent. Nobody worries about teaching their infant to clap, yet they usually know how to clap long before they ever know how to vocalize words.

Be Attentive to his motions. For example, "eat" is tapping the lips with your finger tips. If you notice his hand is by his mouth--even if he is not necessarily trying to sign--praise him and sign "eat" and then give him some food. And there will be times when he is purposefully signing something for the first time, and it looks nothing like it--the first time Jimmy signed "please" (a circular motion on the chest with the hand), I pulled his shirt off thinking he had an irritating rash or bug bite on his tummy.

Babies adore being talked to, and even more so when there's animation involved. They also love to imitate, and you have no idea how exciting it is when it "clicks" for them. The look of sweet baby pride on their face when you squeal and clap and do jumping jacks over their accomplishment is seriously priceless.

You can sign every word you say to him, or you can just stick with certain, select words. I just kept it simple for me... Jimmy's main reason for crying is to tell me he is hungry so most of his signs revolve around food. The words he knows how to vocalize ("mom", "dad", "puppy", "baby", "hi", etc.) he has no interest in signing, and that is fine. I just want to know what he wants to tell me.


I love that Jimmy has this avenue to tell us what he wants. One night, after he had finished a small bottle of milk, he kept signing "more" and "milk". I, being pre-occupied and thinking he had had enough, did not pay attention (yeah, really not a good idea when you're trying to promote communication and sign language). He didn't even whine. He went and found his empty bottle, brought it to me, deliberately pressed it into my hand, wrapped my fingers around it and looked me in the eye and slowly signed "milk". Of course I couldn't help but giggle and feel properly admonished. I kissed his cute little sober face and fulfilled his wish.

Here's some of the words Jimmy knows... (try not to let the adorableness kill you.)

"eat"

"all done" --technically supposed to use two hands, but he likes to cheat

"more"

"please"

"milk" (only one hand is necessary, but he always uses two!)

 His latest thing is putting signs together--"more please" or "milk all done". It is SO cute. 

And now I believe I shall have to go get him up from his nap because all this writing about him makes me want to go revel in his cute, smart little self some more.