Baby Signs

Here is a photo of Caleb signing "more." We were in the car headed home from the cottage Memorial Day weekend.

I did some research on using sign language with babies. It is a trend right now, and wanted to see what research was out there. The two women (both Ph.D's) who made this popular have research to back up its success. It does NOT delay language development, it actually improves their vocabulary. I enjoyed reading about how their children inspired them. The songs with motions that they love so much... and making up their own signs.

So I decided to give it a try. The research says that once a baby begins to point to things is the point at which they are asking for its name. This is the perfect time to be repeating both orally and physically with the signs. So we started modeling signs around 9 months. And his first sign was "food" at 11 months old.

At the age of one:

• Caleb know signs for: more, dog, train, all done, hot, and food.
• Caleb's actual words: moma, dada, dump truck, and ga (not sure if it means Grandma or Gunner, our neighbor's dog!)
  

I am so amazed at how much he understands. We can say "kitty" and he immediately looks around for Laney. Craig and I loved it when he started to do the signs without prompting. He started by immitating us, but now does them when he wants to talk to us! Its so fun.