My sister told me that her baby only did one sign at a time. For instance, if he learned "more," he would stop doing the sign for "milk." And so I was not surprised when Katherine learned "please" and dropped "change." I still faithfully modeled the signs for her, but she stuck with "please."
(I had a suspicion that she thought it meant "pick me up, Mommy," but that was okay.)
And then, quite suddenly, yesterday, I realized that she did only one sign, because that's what worked. I had been changing her, picking her up, finding her soother, and other things, when she would say "please."
Then, while waiting in a long line at Green Village, she needed a change. So she said "please." I picked her up and snuggled her a bit, then put her back down. Change was impossible right then.
She tried again. I smiled at her, and told her she was a good girl, to be saying please so nicely. One more try. Then, finally, in desperation, she said "change" (which she hasn't said for at least a month), followed quickly by "please."
So I changed her.
In my opinion, babies only say one sign at a time because that's all they need to say!
you'll notice that is how they work with word too. Sarah says bread when she wants to eat and it will take a while before she says the combo "bread please"
ReplyDeleteRebekah will start by saying please when she wants something and then we have to ask many time "yes sweetie please what, what do you want" then she will say please and what she wants.
It's weird how those little brain cell works :-)
Very impressive! She's a little baby to be figuring all of that out. Good job Katherine!
ReplyDeleteAw sweet! :-)
ReplyDeleteWe don't give our lil ones enough credit :) They are capable of more than we think they are.
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