Izzy's First Lesson - Baby Sign Language

I am a huge fan of baby sign language. I taught this to Victoria and it was a huge success. It made communicating with her so much easier before she could actually talk. I started with Victoria when she was about 7 months old and she picked it up at about 9-10 months. It is time for Izzy to learn too. I start with the basics and once she picks it up I will move on from there. Basicially what I am doing is constantly showing her the signs for eat, milk, drink, and more when we are doing each of those activities. I am eager to see at what age she will pick it up. I remember the first time Victoria did it. When she woke up in the morning I always took her into the bed to play with me and daddy for a bit. One morning I set her on the bed and she started tapping her fingers against her mouth just like the sign for eat. I was so excited. I scooped her up and took her for breakfast. From that point on it was so easy. She did stop using them once she started talking. I told her the other day we needed to start teaching Izzy. The cool thing is she was right there with me at the highchair the other day showing her sister how it is done. If you have a little one and are not sure if it is worth it let me tell you it definitely is. There is a lot of frustrations that comes with not being able to fully communicate what your child needs. This is such a great tool to alleviate a lot of that frustration. I will post my updates along the way and even any tips I can find.

I actually purchased a DVD that we used to watch. It was okay but I know there are better ones out there than the one I have. I have heard really good things about "Signing Time" but I have not used it myself. My mother gave me an awesome little stand up guide titled "Baby Signing". When I lived out west there was even a program that came on PBS every Saturday that was dedicated to kid sign language. It was awesome but not available where I am now. If you are looking for a place to get started and do not want to buy a DVD or book you can go to http://www.lifeprint.com/. It is basically a dictionary of American Sign Language (ASL). You click on the word and it will show you the sign. I used it a lot with Victoria and will use it with Izzy too.

More to come on this.