Comments on: Reading between the lines

By: Mel

Mel — Thu, 20 Apr 2006 15:27:56 +0000

I haven’t given much thought to teaching my seven-and-a-half month old son, Ian, to sign because I’m blind and he doesn’t really like me touching his hands, except for lotion time. However, he has done some modified communication. When he wants me to pick him up, he will wave his arms in the air and make this sound so I can hear him bouncing, if that makes sense. That’s his way of telling me to pick him up. When he wants to eat, he makes this sound like he drank lemonade that was too sour. It’s pretty ingenious, I think, but then I’m his mother so I can think that. *grin*

By: Gillian

Gillian — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 23:58:39 +0000

Dude, I did an extensive interview with the owner of signingbaby.com for BMEzine.com. It doesn't talk very much about the site, but it does touch on it. You should read it; this girl knows what she's talking about. Read it here.

By: TB

TB — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:05:59 +0000

I bought the Baby Signs book used for a dollar at our local library. I know, I don’t have kids yet so that’s kind of weird, but I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I also bought a book about Breast Feeding. I should really blog about this because it IS a little kooky, but it was only a dollar. It’s not like I’m out buying maternity clothes and one of those fake stomachs.
I want to try the signing thing when we do eventually have a kid, but I can’t get the Meet The Fockers image out of my mind.
I hope the boy is feeling better soon.

By: JennB

JennB — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 21:01:17 +0000

My husband was initially against the sign-language thing until I told him: “Imagine yourself in a world full of people that you understand, but you can’t make your needs or wants understood”. He got it. P knows up, please, more, and thank you. She’s kind of hybridizing thank you, though – she puts her hand in front of her mouth and then says her version of thank you. It’s very cute, and very effective, I think. But don’t bother with animals and ball and that crap. Do the helpful ones – hungry, tired, thirsty, more, please, thank you, etc. I’m working on drink, cracker and milk right now. P also signs more please, in succession. Look out, Advanced Montessouri Yale-track! My kid’s an f-ing genius!

By: Karina

Karina — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:58:35 +0000

Hey, I think Jen was talking about us earlier! :) Jenna is 2 1/2 with a huge vocabulary– we now use signs more as a baby trick than to communicate– altho, we do use it on the playground and in groups of kids to communicate on the sly– “one more slide, then finished, let’s go” or “are you having fun playing?” or “do you want something to eat? diaper change?”
She seems to know that if we sign it, we mean it. “nurse LATER!”
We bought an actual ASL dictionary, if we want to know the sign for something we can look it up. Didn’t make sense to us to teach her baby signs– it is like baby talk! So, some signs were ‘modified’ simply because she didn’t have the finger dexterity yet, but we do the ‘right’ signs and she is improving.
We started with the basics– mostly FOOD related — nurse/milk, eat, More, Finished. Went on to Change diaper, Play, cat, dog etc.
It really helps with frustration levels, especially between one and two years when she could formulate the want or need BUT couldn’t verbalize it yet.
K

By: warcrygirl

warcrygirl — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:34:53 +0000

My oldest didn’t start talking until he was 4 so yeah, being able to understand is a plus. Now that my kids are older I can tell when they’re screaming because they’re pissed at each other, when they’re playing or when it’s time to call 911. And remember what I told you about how to ease teething pain…

By: stephanie brown

stephanie brown — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:31:09 +0000

my mom is a nanny for twins right now. their grandmother teaches sign language and has taught these less than 2 year olds how to do a few signs. it’s pretty cool and most definately adorable.
i dunno about harvard but i’m pretty sure most babies are capable of learning.
and then you can show us cute little videos of the boy saying he’s all done, or that he wants more and all that other cute stuff :)

By: M.a.

M.a. — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:27:59 +0000

Wait. The pic of the kid signing for milk… I think it’s the Italian sign for “Up Your Mostacolli, Luigi”, isn’t it? Jeez. And she gave him MILK? I bet he was even more pissed.

By: sundry

sundry — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:22:14 +0000

Thanks Monica! Most of the photos on your site are really interesting, I just had to call BS on the fetus-signing-on-purpose pic. : )

By: M.a.

M.a. — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 20:17:50 +0000

Why I love Sundry: (1) Her blog subject lines are nice and straightforward and I don’t have to spend a lot of time trying to figure out why “Pickled Pretzel Poon Dog” is significant after reading the blog (what? I thought it was clever); and (2) she writes stuff like this “I just want to find out the exact shape of the stick that’s rammed up my son’s ass so I can remove it and we can all get back to American Idol.” which is literary perfection.