A Note on Baby Sign Language

In a comment a couple days back, Lida asked where we learned how to teach the girls sign language. I thought other people might be wondering the same thing, so I thought I'd write a little about it.

I think it's been a pretty hot topic in parenting for 5 or 10 years now. There are a ton of books and movies out there on the topic.

When I got pregnant, my friend Trish sent me a slew of books that SHE had bought when she got pregnant (thank you Trish!), and one of them was on signing with babies. I read a bit of it and thought it was cool, so I thought I'd try it.

There's a whole philosophy around baby signing, but here's my point of view: Kids want to communicate. Kids are happier when they can tell you what they're thinking (aka what they want/don't want). Adults are happier when kids can tell us what they want/don't want -- because when they can't, they get upset and whine or cry. So any way we can help kids get their ideas across to us is a good thing.

I use a mixture of recommended signs and ones I made up myself (you can also use recommendations from the baby books.) I began making the sign and saying the word whenever it was relevant, and the girls would pick up one or the other (except for cheese -- they use both at once for that). It basically seems to triple their vocabulary because there are only so many words babies can learn to say at once.

It's really just expanding on a communication tactic that parents and babies have always used (pointing, clapping, waving "byebye"). Plus, it's cute. Watching Zoe and Eleni bang their chests and say "oh oh oh" when they see a gorilla is priceless. And yes, I'm still trying to catch that one on camera, although lately they've gotten lazy and just been half-heartedly banging with one hand.