Signing Time!

Sign language for babies has become pretty popular among modern Moms. Michael's sisters have used it for their kids, and I was impressed when Baby Emma, at 6 months old, woke from a nap and immediately signed "milk." Whoa! We knew we wanted to sign with our child, too, and started using signs right from the beginning with Adam. We worked on words like Milk, Fan, and All Done. Over the months he's used a few signs but he really started "talking" once we started showing him the Signing Time! video.

Signing Time! is a wonderful series of DVDs created by a Mom named Rachel Coleman who saw the need for videos when she discovered her own child was deaf. Her story is quite remarkable. She instructs on how to do the sign (using American Sign Language) and then shows children doing the signs. Adam is mesmerized by the DVD! You remember that reaction to Mickey Mouse? He does the same when this show starts, too.

Now, at 14 months, he can sign nearly all the words from the video plus a few more -- over 20 words! He is picking up the signs so much quicker now, so we are continually working on new words. This is so fascinating to us because the only verbal words he has so far are Dada, Mama, ball (ba), Gramma (GaGa), and Airplane (I am absolutely not kidding! Lots of witnesses!). He is now mimicking sounds and words all the time, and I know in know time he'll be jabbering along with his hands.

At 14 Months, Adam's Signs:
fan
light
more
eat
water
bed
bath
mommy
dog
car
ball
duck/bird
shoes
airplane
bye-bye/kiss
fish
sign
milk
grandma
swing
tree
sleep

He will even sign "Signing Time" when he wants to watch his video. We continue to work on new signs all the time, too.

Here's a video of him demonstrating his skills. We think it's remarkable, but then, we are his biggest fans!  :)

 (14 months)