He Understands "Milk!"

The sign language thing? Seems to be working. At least, Mommy and Daddy are getting used to doing the appropriate signs at the appropriate times. (I suppose inappropriate signs are for another blog?)

So, I decided to see if The Prince really got it. Or if he could show me that he got it. When I suspected that it was time to nurse, I did the sign for milk. Guess what? Well, the title gives it away, but he gets it! He got all excited, smiling and shaking his arms. And so, we nursed. This is one of our main points of interaction now. I certainly try not to overuse it, so he doesn't start to think that it means something else, but if he's fussy and I'm not sure if he's hungry, I just ask him. If he's not hungry, he kind of looks away, or looks at me like "Um, no. Silly lady." (He's almost rolling his eyes.) !!!!

Daddy saw The Prince do the sign for dog when said pug ran into the room. The Prince looked at his hand and did the sign (which is sort of like snapping), and even said something that sounded like "Doggeeee!") He hasn't done it for Mommy yet, but I know he's that smart.

And, of course, The Prince is already saying "Mommy." No, really. Sometimes it does seem to be babble on his syllable of choice, but he often does it while looking at me, or when he's crying or hungry. And, then, of course, I ask him if he wants some milk.

Express Yourself!

We're teaching The Prince sign language. The idea is that babies are capable of expressing themselves before they're ready to speak, so you give them tools to do so. Some say it slows down the appearance of first words, some say it speeds it up. I think anything I can do to help my little one express himself is great.

You start with a few fun words and a few daily, necessary words. We've chosen milk, more, food, bed(sleepy), doggie, kitty, and ducky. The signs are easy to learn and to remember; the tricky part is remembering to do them every time you say the word. You say and sign the word when you're doing or holding that thing.

The cool part is that The Prince has started paying attention to the signs. For a while, it seemed as though it was just for myself, but one day at bathtime I noticed him noticing my hand sign "ducky." Yay!

The whole thing got me thinking: if he's ready to express himself before he talks, and he's noticing when I do the signs, how much is he really taking in? I think sometimes we tend to go about our daily lives, not paying attention to what the baby is paying attention to. It's enough to make me consider everything that I surround myself with, and therefore surround The Prince with: the TV, the music, my words and tone when I deal with other people and the pets.

This verse has been heavily on my mind lately, and is a perfect check for me to go through when considering the things I allow myself and The Prince to take in:

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

Phil 4:8