We keep hoping Kiddo#4 will be “our boy who doesn’t require speech therapy.”
So far, Kiddo#2 was speaking in whole sentences and composing sonnets by 10 months of age, and the other two needed a speech therapist to tell them to say “more” instead of emitting a bloodcurdling scream at the dinner table.
It’s tough to tell early on whether Kiddo#4 will follow the trail blazed by his brothers or the lead of sister, who very quietly at age 12 months was reciting the planets along with her brother. (If I can find the video of that, I’ll post it. I promise.)
But I think we have a winner, and Kiddo#4 is going to talk on his own.
On Thursday last week, I realized that K4 is seven months old, which is the age when babies who are raised in signing households begin to make their first recognizable signs. Also, the week before he’d begun to wave at people.
That’s infant remote control, by the way. He loved the fact that he could make people wave at him by waving at them. It’s like magic! He waves. They wave. He waves again. They wave again. He smiles. They smile. He waves. They wave. It worked really well.
Anyhow, on Thursday, whenever he finished eating, I would say, “Would you like some more?” and do the “more” sign. That’s just me putting my thumb and first two fingers together on each hand, and then bringing the tips together a few times. I’d let about two seconds elapse and then hand him another piece of food.
On Friday, I continued this.
On Saturday at lunch, I looked up to see him finish a graham cracker and then bring his fists together.
I said, “More?!” and he smiled really big. So I gave him more graham cracker, and he looked tremendously pleased with himself.
(You might want to turn off the sound for this one. My older kids were proving that speech isn’t always a blessing in a child. Ugh.)
But seriously, a remote control for Mommy. What could be better?
Tempus Fugit
Gesundheit! 😀
Just yesterday Patrick asked me for more of something (can’t remember what), and did the sign along with it. It’s amazing how much having just a few signs helped us! Ours were “more” and “all done/gone” (we tried some others, but they didn’t stick). It’s so nice to be able to, for instance, tell them “all done” when the immunizations at a doc’s visit are over, and see them repeat the sign and *know* that they understand.
We usually start with “more” and “done,” although we made up our own for “done.” It’s good that he found “all done” so helpful in what would otherwise have been a scary situation for him!
The saddest thing was when my oldest was about two or three, he had a stomach virus, and after he puked, he was so upset that he did the “all done” sign because he wanted to let us know he wanted it to stop.
Yep, he wants more. How exciting! I wish we’d tried signs with ours. Might have made a difference with our first, but it was still new. Second was right on schedule (wouldn’t dare not be, with all the Hannoning going on — those habits stick). I love the idea of “all over” after the shots!
My Sister called me one day and asked if this was a ASL sign for more, because Loren was doing it and getting upset. She couldn’t figure out were Loren was getting it. Turns out that several kids in Loren’s class were learning it at home. Loren picked it up from them in Day care.
Oh my goodness — that is so sweet! Loren sounds really sharp to pick that up on her own. 🙂