The Benefits of Baby Sign Language

Posted on November 28, 2012 | Leave a comment

“More tickles please Daddy!”

As hard as it was in the beginning to persevere as a mother trying to teach her 5 1/2 month old baby boy sign language, the benefits are greatly paying off 4 months later! It’s never to late to start parents, and the results are so rewarding!

This past month, J’s signing has generalized all on his own from signing at mealtimes, or when he wants milk, to so many more opportunities…

Signing “more” for extra tickles, hugs or kisses.

Signing “apple” when reading and seeing pictures of apples in books.

Signing “more” for one more book before nap time.

Signing “more” for extra singing (even if it is straining everyone else’s ears ).

Signing “eat” when seeing others eating in books or in person.

Signing “milk” when seeing a bottle in a picture or during play.

These are just a few of the scenarios fresh in my mind. By no means is this post meant to toot my or Baby J’s horn (okay, maybe Baby J’s a bit ), but more to encourage parents to try Baby Sign Language!!!

Every baby develops at his or her own pace, as with all developments. Believe me, it is difficult to remember or continue signing in the beginning period when baby doesn’t respond much at all. It’s hard to get others on board with you to sign with baby. But stick with it, please, please, please! Remain enthusiastic and positive as best you can. Once baby begins to attempt to sign, reward and encourage! Stick with the positive praise and you will soon have yourself a little communicator!

Not only is is so rewarding and awe inspiring to see your little one communicate with you, it’s so sweet to see your spouse, parents, in-laws, friends and relatives signing with baby! After the many early months of trying to guess what your baby wants or needs when crying or fussy, you are now beginning to see him/her actually tell you! How great is that?

Last night, as bath time was winding down and my husband pulled the plug on the tub, Baby J quickly turned around to face the drain and faucet and frantically signed “more” over and over with his little raisin fingers, not wanting bath time to end. Matt and I looked at each other, laughing and making pout faces at the same time. Being the sucker that I am, I say, “He signed! How can we not give him a few more minutes??” Matt gave in and added some more warm water to the tub and Baby J began happily splashing once again. A few minutes and yawns later, Matt decided it was time to be “all done.” We waved byebye to the water and J once again began signing “more.” Knowing another few minutes would set us into cries during changing time, we put on a stiff upper lip, distracted Baby J and stuck with the “all done.”

Our little one sure does know what he wants, and just how to get it! Look out mama, those heartstrings are getting tugged and you are in trouble!!

Next challenge: Setting boundaries and learning when to say “all done” or “next time” despite the adorable fingers signing “more.” How to continue encouraging signing, if sometimes denying requests?

I’m thinking since baby J is generalizing certain signs, he really has them down and setting boundaries is okay. I’m thinking it, but my heart feels otherwise! Any tips or experiences from other baby sign language parents are greatly appreciated! Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

Thanks for reading!

Natalie

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Posted in Earth Lovin Mama, New Mama

Tagged Baby Sign Language, Earth Lovin Mama, Education, Family Life, multisensory learning, New Mama, sign language

Sign Language Challenge Still a Challenge!

Posted on November 13, 2012 | 2 Comments

About a month ago (I know, I know, I’ve majorly been slacking …eek!), I was ready to throw in the towel with teaching Baby J sign language. I felt like a failure because after almost three months, all he was signing was milk, and that was iffy, infrequent and to everything it seemed. Half the time I wasn’t sure if he was signing, waving, or trying to grab at something….

Baby J signing more….or at least I think he is…

Matt had come home from school one day and announced that his co-worker’s son (a week or two younger than J) was signing “mommy” and “more.” That added to my feelings of being a failure. His co-worker went back to work after 12 weeks, yet was still able to teach her son more sign language than me! I was feeling mommy failure big time.

Okay, okay so I was a big dramatic and overly sensitive.

Matt laughed at my ridiculousness and vowed he wouldn’t tell me anything like that anymore because he didn’t want to get me in a tizzy. But nevertheless, determined not to give up, I dove into more research on baby sign language and found out the following helpful, encouraging tips.

DON’T give up! As hard as it seems at times, your baby is learning what you are teaching him. He just may not have the skills to put it all together yet. Don’t worry, he will, but in the meantime, keep modeling and practicing at any and all situations.
Encourage family members, caregivers and friends to chime in on the sign language train. The competition sparked by Matt’s co-worker gave him the boost to sign with Baby J and I. hehe.
Babies will most likely “Use and Confuse” before they get the proper sign down. Encourage ANY and ALL approximations of sign language. Baby J was signing milk for almost everything, but I was supposed to encourage the process of just acknowledging sign language as a form of communication!
Model, model, model sign language. Consistency really is key.
It will take most babies a few months to acquire any sign language. Continue to sign, model, and even try some mommy’s hand over baby’s hand modeling if baby allows you to. If not, that’s okay just show her your signs with the object present and make sure you verbalize what the object is that you’re signing.
Encourage baby’s fine motor skills through simple games and finger plays which strengthen fingers, hands and wrists. Think, “Itsy, Bitsy, Spider,” “Patty Cake,” clapping, pointing and waving.
Remember to keep having FUN and don’t get discouraged. Baby can sense your anxiety or stress. Try your best to stay strong and positive!!
Don’t try to pile on too many things at once. Start with the most motivating things for baby (5 things at most; typically loved ones, food, toys or pets at this time) and don’t move on until baby shows some signing. There is no rush. See here for yourself.
Remember, every baby develops at their own rate. DON’T compare your baby to anyone else’s baby (or yourself to anyone else). You are trying to teach your baby for the best of your baby so you are a fabulous parent for any and all efforts!!
Stick with general terms such as “eat” and “drink” while you are beginning your journey with baby sign language. No need to distinguish between various foods and drinks unless your wee one is choosing between things at mealtimes. I actually didn’t/don’t follow this rule, but shhh I didn’t just say that!

A few days later, Baby J began signing “more” for bananas during snack time. It was so cute and so powerful, I began clapping for him and then he began clapping for himself. That began a new trend for all signing now (which I love ). We’ve since learned “apple” and are using and confusing banana with apple (see my error from #10). Baby J loves the play Little Tikes kitchen set and play food I had purchased at a yard sale for my classroom a few years ago, and it has been tremendous for our signing development!

J also loves to look through our Simple First Words, Let’s Sign book and flashcards. The bright, vibrant colors and pictures of babies are an added bonus. He claps at the book and the babies inside as they sign. Adorbs.

For now, we are going to continue with milk, more, eat, bath and apple, but adding:

Water- I know I know, breaking rule #10 again
Cat- Baby J gets SO excited for the “ki kits”
All done- instead of flinging the kiwi or bananas across the room (however entertaining this is for Mama and Daddy

Baby J started saying and associating “mama” and “dada” three weeks ago, so we’ve bypassed Mommy and Daddy, but they are very important signs to teach in the beginning if your little one isn’t yet associating and naming his most loved parents!

So that leaves us 5 semi new signs that Baby J isn’t yet using or confusing yet to work on next. Good luck with your choices!

Keep on pushing, keep your faith in yourself as a teacher and baby as a learner, and PRAISE, PRAISE, PRAISE!! (Yourself and your little one! Sometimes as mamas and daddies, we are our own worst critics– I know THIS from personal experience, that’s for sure!).

Enjoy!
Natalie

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Posted in New Mama

Tagged Baby Sign Language, Education, multisensory learning, New Mama, sign language

The Love is Still Here!

Posted on November 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

Oh blog, how I have been ignoring you! I apologize for any and all of my viewers. Things have been a little crazy craze here trying to figure out ways to be home with my little one and trying my hardest to make it work!

It’s an emotional roller coaster, that’s for sure, and one that is not fun I just can’t bear the thought of being apart from Baby J more than I am with him…it’s crushing. I am keeping a positive state while I am with the baby during the day, but after he goes to bed, I have difficulty staying positive and upbeat. Matt has been an amazing listener and sound helper in encouraging me to follow my heart and work to make being home with J more possible. I keep telling us that we have to have faith that it will work out the way it is supposed to. Along with our prayers and faith, I have thrown myself into this full force. So here goes my endless search…

In the meantime while I’m figuring this out, I’m focusing my nervous energy into the wee hours on some woodworking, which you can find on my new Etsy shop! Please check it out! I’ve also been working on refinishing some furniture during Baby J’s naps, which is time consuming, stress relieving and encouraging! It’s great to see results of hard work that you’ve had your hands on! I’ll follow up with some before and after pictures once I’ve finished the pieces! To showcase all of my latest craftsmanship, I am starting a booth at the Quakertown Farmers Market this coming weekend. I am a bit nervous and unsure how it will all go, but my drive and motivation from this little guy, make it all worth every ounce of anything uncomfortable (how do you think child birth is possible?! ).

Baby J and I are starting a new endeavor this week, babysitting! My best girl Becky has offered me this amazing opportunity to watch her little guy, with Baby J in tow, in the benefit of us all! I’m so very grateful for this amazing opportunity, as well as the chance for our little guys to get some quality play time together! It will sure be a challenge with an almost year old baby boy and a 9 month old baby boy together, on the constant move, but a challenge I am so very thankful for. And what more of a time to share thanks, than with Thanksgiving quickly approaching!

So for now, I will close by thanking all of you for your loyalty and understanding as I travel through this difficult time. I promise to post on our updates to sign language fun, a new featured book and activity, new cloth diapers , and our favorite games with baby!

Stay tuned and stay warm!

Natalie

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Posted in New Mama

Tagged etsy, Family Life, New Mama

Color Series: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Posted on October 31, 2012 | Leave a comment

Featured Color Series: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

By Eric Carle

Last, but definitely NOT least, the final Color Series book: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I thought we’d end the series with a beloved Eric Carle classic!

Brown Bear has a repetitive sing song rhyme that greatly encourages your little preschool or toddler tot to join in on the reading with you!

“Brown Bear, Brown Bear, what do you see?

I see a _____ looking at me.”

Older babies and toddlers who can identify animals, colors, or who can speak, can help you fill in the blanks, as you help them by turning the page a little sooner to give the visual clue of the next animal on the next page. Always encourage participation in reading, however big or small!

Praise your baby for sitting nicely and paying attention to the pictures. Baby J LOVES turning the pages in board books now, so I encourage this by getting the page ready for him between the fingers in my right hand. It signals to J that we’re ready for the next page when he is finished looking at the pictures. He gets SO excited to turn the page, it’s adorable! This also can help toddlers participate in reading and release some of their endless energy!

Have your preschooler and early reader join in on the reading, and praise it as such, even if your little one is just memorizing the repetitive text. Memorization is an important process in reading and one of the first ways of associating words with meaning. Sight words are learned through memorization and visual recognition.

Encourage the memorization process by slowing down your reading and pointing to each word as you read. Model this, and then have your little one give it a try. Again, their fingers will probably not align with the correct word since he/she has memorized the text at the pace you typically read it, but finger reading and word for word recognition are important steps on the path towards reading so keep up your positive reinforcement!!!

After reading, create this easy activity which promotes color recognition, story sequencing and word recognition!

Materials needed:

Recycled toilet paper roll
Brown, red, yellow, blue, green, purple, orange, black, and white construction paper AND markers/colored pencils
2 Google eyes
Liquid glue
Scissors
Clear tape
Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

Directions:

1. Fold each paper in half, hot dog style (so that your folded paper is long and thin, rather than fat and thick = hamburger style).

2. Cut the papers along the seam and set aside.

I used a paper cutter for time sake, since my busy busy almost 9 month old was crawling all over and grabbing all papers! If you use a paper cutter, make sure your little one is safe and out of reach!

3. Ask you little one if he/she remembers which animal came first, and what color it was? Locate that color, place it first, and write the name of the animal on the paper. The idea is that “the children” are seeing all the animals and teacher, so we went from bear through teacher. (Our papers were in order until someone little and cute got his hands on them!)

If your child doesn’t remember who came first, this is a great time to teach the skill of how to look back in the book for answers. This is something I had to continuously teach my first, second AND third graders so it’s never too early to start!

4. Since teacher doesn’t have a color, we used the other half of white and added the google eyes with a pair of blue rimmed glasses around them, like in the story.

5. As pictured above, grab your toilet paper roll and work backwards in the order that you originally lined up your colors and characters by. For example, begin with “teacher” since the teacher is the last thing the children see. This way, when all the colors are rolled up, the “bear” will be first, since it is the first character we see. For ease of the activity and faster usage time, we taped the papers along the chain.

6. When you’re finished taping the paper chain, wind it up so that the brown “bear” is on top. Then, re-read the story and use the paper chain sequencer to help with sight word recognition as well as recalling the order of the story events with your reader!

Enjoy!

Natalie

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Posted in Baby books, Children's Books, Crafty Crafts

Tagged Baby books, Book of the Week, Books & Activities, Crafty Craft, Early Childhood Reading, Education, Eric Carle, multisensory learning, Preschool Reading, Reading activities, Toddler reading

Color Series: A Color of His Own

Posted on October 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

A Color of His Own

by Leo Lionni

A Color of His Own is the third book in our featured book, color series. Leo Lionni is famous for his watercolor illustrations, as displayed in the various animals in this story. Animals and their colors are defined, such as a pink pig, green parrot, red goldfish and gray elephant.

The main character in the story is a chameleon who wishes that he could stay one color forever. He doesn’t like that he changes colors wherever he goes, as displayed across the pictures and various scenes that he lay. The chameleon thinks he can outsmart the color shift and be like everyone else who is one color, by staying on a green leaf. However, once Autumn appears, the leaf changes color and eventually falls off in the Winter. Then he finds another chameleon who also changes color with the season. The older chameleon convinces the younger chameleon to travel and shift colors together, so they will never feel alone again.

The beautiful message in this story is that is far more valuable to find a great friend in life to travel the ups and downs with, than it is to have a color of your own. The two chameleons become friends and shift together so they too, “fit in” somewhere.

This book sparked a great idea to capture the ever color-changing leaves this fall in a creation! Baby J and I went on a nice leisurely walk in this beautiful fall weather (actually 70 degrees, not 50 like it has been!), and collected some beautiful leaves of various colors. I decided we were going to create a leaf collage and then sponge paint chameleons onto the leaves! Join in our journey and crafty craft with the disguised chameleon friends!

Let’s Get Started!

materials:

Don’t mind the cookie cutters…I changed my mind for the project mid way through the process!

Leaves (from your leaf walk — see below)
Mod Podge or Tacky Glue
Sponge paint brush
Acrylic paint (we used green, orange and yellow)
Everyday sponge
Chameleon template found here.
Thin cardboard
Scissors

directions:

1. Take a walk with your little lovey or stroll around the backyard and collect leaves of various colors.

2. Press your leaves within the pages of a heavy book or under something flat and heavy to allow the leaves to dry flat and not curl (not a necessary step, but it will make it MUCH easier to glue later on!). Leave sit for a few hours or a few days.

3. Take out your leaves out of the book or under the press. Spread Mod Podge or Tacky Glue down on the area of cardboard you wish to use.

4. After you’ve laid down all of your leaves, set aside and let it dry. We waited between Baby J’s first and second naps before continuing on with the project.

5. While waiting for the leaves and glue to dry, print and trace this chameleon template onto the sponge. Cut it out as best you can and set aside.

6. After the leaves have dried and your babe wakes up, set up your paint area and a possible smock for your little one. In order to create a “blended” effect on the chameleon, I lined up our paint like this:

7. Push up your little love’s sleeves, take the chameleon sponge and dip in! We created two, the chameleon and his older chameleon friend!

8. Enjoy looking at your chameleon friends blending into the leave habitat you made for them!

NOTE** You can create as many or as few leaves in your collage as you wish. We used about ten leaves in this project and decided upon the size due to age and size of Baby J.

Enjoy and thanks for reading! Be sure to check back next week for Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?

:-) Natalie

Missed Featured Books 1 & 2 in our Color Series? No problem here they are!

Windows to Color

The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse

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Posted in Baby books, Children's Books, Crafty Crafts

Tagged Book of the Week, Books & Activities, Crafty Craft, Early Childhood Reading, Education, infant and preschool crafts, Leo Lionni, Preschool Reading, Reading activities, Toddler reading

Colors Series: The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse

Posted on October 13, 2012 | 3 Comments

The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse

by Eric Carle

The second book in our Featured Books: Color series, is a bright, fun story with pictures that pop from the pages, as Eric Carle is so famous for. J always reaches and slides his hands down the sheets of this book, in what I imagine as him trying to feel the animals!

The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse is a wonderful confidence booster for your budding artists at home! The main character in the story is proud that he is an artist, with his full two page spread of the blue horse, red crocodile, yellow cow, pink rabbit, green lion, orange elephant, purple fox, black polar bear, and polka-dotted donkey. Another reason why I love this book is because the animals’ colors aren’t the “right” real life colors for each animal. The little boy takes risks to paint what he wants and the pictures are beautiful!

Such a great message to give to our little ones…take the risk and try what you feel is right- in painting, in reading, in life!

Another great thing about this book is that it’s a large, beautiful picture book. Kiddos can see pictures and colors that they know and quickly pick up on the flow of the story to help recognize the pattern of the words and encourage shared reading with you! Great encouragement for preschoolers and early readers to take the risk and try to read! Make sure you continually praise, praise, praise your little one for any attempt or involvement with reading! The more positive you are, the greater confidence your tot will build, along with comfort knowing that it’s okay to take a chance and maybe have to try again.

Okay Natalie, so what else can I do with this book?

After reading the story to your little one (refer to the infant, toddler/preschooler and/or early reader tips), see the links below for some activities to go along with The Artist Who Painted A Blue Horse!

Infant activities: Bathtub Paints!

Toddlers, Preschoolers and Early Readers: