Teaching Baby Sign Language
Sometimes it can be extremely frustrating trying to communicate with someone who depends on you for everything but can't tell you what they need or want. Most days I have to offer 47 different things and when none of them work, we start the list over again and it ends up being one of the first things I offered in the first place to make her happy. Parenting most definitely isn't the easiest thing to do in life and deserves a gold medal.
When I was younger I had taken a few American sign language classes that were offered through my church. I feel like I really learned a lot and still remember most of it today. Me and my husband started watching "Switched at Birth" on Netflix and when they were signing the whole show it made us want to learn. So I started looking signs up and watching YouTube videos to jog my memory on some things. I was surprised to see how much I actually remembered.
After I got pregnant with Ellie, this was definitely something I really wanted to teach her. I always saw videos of babies signing and I truly aspired to be that mom..... I would like to start by saying that I didn't teach her to sign much but she actually did learn some things. When I would see her signing, I would get so excited to see she had learned something I had actually taught her. I probably didn't put in as much effort as I should have. If I could go back, I think would change a few things. Like I wish I would have started earlier, when she first started to recognize things and maybe she would be doing more by now. Who knows.
I will say that she pretty much has only done 3 of these but we're still working on more. Now that she is talking a little bit I really notice her doing one of them but it's still awesome to see that she is understanding and learning.
All of these signs are super easy. They should be I guess since they want babies to learn them but I bought this super cute book for her to look at and help us teach her how to sign. This book is called Baby Signs. I highly recommend buying it if you are interested in signing.
Now there is a lot more in this book than what I actually taught her but I started with milk. I would sign "milk" and say "milk" every time I gave her a bottle for months. It's pretty simple, you basically just use your right hand to motion milking a cow. It didn't take long for her to realize what that meant so she caught on quick. Since shes talking now, she pretty much will just say "bubba" for her milk but she would sign it most days until she could talk.
The next thing I taught her was the sign for "more". You take both hands and put all your fingers together. A few weeks ago, she signed "more" while sitting in her chair waiting for more cheerios! I was so ecstatic to see her sign it! I almost started crying! She does this one quite a bit now.
The last thing I've been trying to teach her is "all done". I look at it as jazz hands above your head. I've been doing this since she could sit in the high chair and eat anything. She has only done this a few times but hopefully she will start doing this more often.
I always say whatever word I'm signing so she can associate both together. She may not be where some other kids will be at her age but I'm pretty darn proud of the fact that she is learning. Even if it's something small or she only ever does it once, it still counts in my book. So if you're in the middle of trying to teach your baby something and you feel like they won't ever understand, keep at it. One day they will just do it out of the blue and you'll be grinning from ear to ear knowing you we're the one who taught them.
When I was younger I had taken a few American sign language classes that were offered through my church. I feel like I really learned a lot and still remember most of it today. Me and my husband started watching "Switched at Birth" on Netflix and when they were signing the whole show it made us want to learn. So I started looking signs up and watching YouTube videos to jog my memory on some things. I was surprised to see how much I actually remembered.
After I got pregnant with Ellie, this was definitely something I really wanted to teach her. I always saw videos of babies signing and I truly aspired to be that mom..... I would like to start by saying that I didn't teach her to sign much but she actually did learn some things. When I would see her signing, I would get so excited to see she had learned something I had actually taught her. I probably didn't put in as much effort as I should have. If I could go back, I think would change a few things. Like I wish I would have started earlier, when she first started to recognize things and maybe she would be doing more by now. Who knows.
I will say that she pretty much has only done 3 of these but we're still working on more. Now that she is talking a little bit I really notice her doing one of them but it's still awesome to see that she is understanding and learning.
Now there is a lot more in this book than what I actually taught her but I started with milk. I would sign "milk" and say "milk" every time I gave her a bottle for months. It's pretty simple, you basically just use your right hand to motion milking a cow. It didn't take long for her to realize what that meant so she caught on quick. Since shes talking now, she pretty much will just say "bubba" for her milk but she would sign it most days until she could talk.
I always say whatever word I'm signing so she can associate both together. She may not be where some other kids will be at her age but I'm pretty darn proud of the fact that she is learning. Even if it's something small or she only ever does it once, it still counts in my book. So if you're in the middle of trying to teach your baby something and you feel like they won't ever understand, keep at it. One day they will just do it out of the blue and you'll be grinning from ear to ear knowing you we're the one who taught them.
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