Signing

As I mentioned back in March, we are using baby signs with Aaron. It is so much fun to watch him learn a new sign. I'll catch him practicing the signs at random times before he starts to use them in context. His first sign was "more" which he uses regularly during mealtime. He is also starting to use the signs for "eat" and "book", and yesterday just started signing "drink", although incorrectly. The sign for "drink" involves bringing your thumb to your lips, with the rest of your hand closed. Aaron uses his pointer finger and sticks it into his mouth, palm facing upward, and tilts his head back. The important thing is that he is able to communicate with us and I enjoy watching his interpretation of the signs.

He has successfully used the sign for "eat" to let me know he was ready for breakfast. When he first gets up, Thom and I have a cup of coffee while Aaron plays on the floor (we also alternately play on the floor if requested). Then we'll serve breakfast around 7:30 or so. When he gets fussy in the morning, I don't know if he is just teething and therefore irritable, or if he is hungry, so I ask him if he wants to eat, and I do the sign for "eat". Several times now, he has signed "eat" in response to let me know that he did (or maybe he just wanted to show off that he knows the sign, I can't be sure). He doesn't sign eat correctly either - you are supposed to bring all your fingertips and thumb together, and then bring it to your lips. Aaron just uses his index finger, and instead of bringing it to his lips, he puts it into his mouth (but palm down, as opposed to the way he signs "drink").

He has also been signing "book" seemingly randomly, but this morning, he was playing with his blocks and he suddenly looks up, signs "book" and when I say something like "Book? Did you sign book?" he then points over to where we keep his toys and a few books. So I got him a book to play with. I feel like signing helps give us a glimpse into his cute little brain. If he didn't know the sign for book, he may have done nothing, or he may have grunted and pointed over to the toy bin, leaving me to wonder which toy he wanted.

I've also been trying to teach him the sign for "all done" at the end of mealtime. The sign is to hold your hands up with palms facing you, then turn them out. I do the sign repeatedly and say "all done?". Aaron thinks this is funny and reaches out to grab my hands and stick his head between them. Sometimes during the day, I see him doing something with his hands that looks nothing like "all done" but given the way he mis-signs other words, I wonder if he is practicing his version of "all done".

Oh, the reason I thought to write this post today... At lunch, I was feeding Aaron freeze dried banana slices. He kept pointing at the bag and whining when he wanted more, so I thought I'd try out the sign for banana. You hold up your index finger on one hand (your banana) and mime peeling the banana with your other hand. I did this and said "Do you want more banana?" and Aaron thought it was hysterical. He often laughs when I do a sign for the first time, but this was more of a reaction than I've gotten before. He laughed and giggled and when I stopped, he pointed to my hands and said "uh guh" (which to my ears sounded like "again", but I know he wasn't really saying that). So I did it again, and again, and again, and each time was as funny as the last.