Eyes Nose Toes and More

Although its difficult to see, Addison has been identifying her body parts for a while now. Ears is a little tough for her but check out the video for the ones she can do. MOUTH is my favorite!

Popping Pepper-18 Weeks ish

5 weeks with Lil Manna

18 Weeks 1 day with Lil Manna

I named this post Popping Pepper because Manna has been popping around in my tummy a little bit. I just wanted to post a new profile shot and compare the first picture at 5 weeks with 13 weeks later.

Here is a lil info about Manna:

Head to rump, your baby is approximately 5 1/2 inches long (about the length of a bell pepper) and weighs almost 7 ounces. He's busy flexing his arms and legs — movements that you'll start noticing more and more in the weeks ahead. If you're having a girl, her uterus and fallopian tubes are formed and in place. If you're having a boy, his genitals are noticeable now, although he may hide them from you during an ultrasound.

Turnip-ing it Up-17 Weeks +

05.14.11

17.5 Weeks along with Manna

How low can I carry this baby? Seriously! Also excuse my wet hair :) I can see the difference in size now, but still not as much as I thought it would be!

10.22.09

About 17-18 Weeks with Blessing/Addison.

I feel like we are "turnip-ing" (supposed to sound like turning, lol) it up on this pregnancy now that I am starting to get huge (huge in MY mind at least). We are about 17.5 weeks along...almost halfway done, I cannot believe it!

Nothing much new to report other than i feel like I made a huge jump in my size the past 2-3 weeks, so I wanted to post a picture.

Here is a lil info on Manna:

Your baby's skeleton is changing from soft cartilage to bone, and the umbilical cord — her lifeline to the placenta — is growing stronger and thicker. Your baby weighs 5 ounces now (about as much as a turnip; although if history is any indicator Manna is probably bigger, haha), and she's around 5 inches long from head to bottom. She can move her joints, and her sweat glands are starting to develop.

How am I doing?

Dandy! Nothing to complain about. Just grateful. I feel some movement, but not as much as I remember with Addison at this point, however I am much busier now. At this point of my pregnancy with Addison, Matthew we in DC and I was still in AL so I had lots of time to sit and wait for movement. PLUS any of you have had pregnancies this close together know things don't have time to get completely back to normal size; Manna probably has lots of room to swim!

Prayer this week:

Thank you, thank you for every tiny reassuring movement!!!! Thank you for a healthy pregnancy so far! Please continue to keep Manna healthy and strong.

Best Two Years of My Life

May 9, 2011 Matthew and I celebrated two years of marriage. I recently wrote a posted entitled "Our Unlikely Story" that is filled with all the cheesy, mushy stuff that I am sure many of you hate hearing. Everyone told me that all my giddiness and cheesiness would wear off after we had been married a year or two, but I am not lying when I say it has not. My heart still skips a beat when Matthew looks into my eyes, when he is away overnight I still get so nervous to see him again, I still say I love you and mean it like it was the first time I said it, we still say thank you every time someone does something for the other and I STILL live in lalala land. I hope none of that ever changes.

SO...to spare you from all the mush this time I thought I would share what we did for our anniversary.

Matthew was off on our anniversary so we spent the spent the day doing nothing too exciting. Since he was home, I did my all my normal Monday AND Tuesday cleaning (mopped, cleaned 2 of 3 bathrooms, did all the laundry, vacuumed, dusted) and my usual work out. MATTHEW on the other hand was entirely too productive---he trimmed the massive tree in the front yard, mowed, weed eated and washed my car.

Next we took my daily 45 minute power walk with Addison. My usual path takes us around a nearby lake/pond and through some woods, super fun!

We exchanged gifts...Matthew picked out a beautiful maternity dress all by himself for me, it was sooooooo sweet. I got him two gifts which doubled as his birthday present too----a new guitar strap and a wall hanger for his guitar :)

And FINALLY.....our DATE!!!!!!

Thankfully, our friends Daniel and Katie were willing to watch Addison for the evening. They are expecting a baby in Sept (Manna's future BFF) so they were able to get some practice on Addison (although I do not think they need any!). The lovliest part was Daniel and Katie watched her free of charge...makes living on a budget so much easier.

We met our friends Kim and Kevin for dinner at La Mexicana Bakery and Taqueria. As you can see from the picture below it did not look so promising, but Kim heard great reviews so we were all eager review it ourselves! Verdict? DIVINE!!! It was the best mexican food I have had since leaving Texas and Birmingham (can I pause here and mention how much I miss Iguana Grill in Birmingham!!!).

Second Stop: Starbucks, of course. We walked next door to a Starbucks where we enjoyed coffee and conversation. I am proud to say that we somehow managed to not talk about Addison or Manna the whole time. Strange. I felt like we really were on a date like before we were married :)

Final Stop: Target. After Five and Below, I had an ich to check out the dollar bins at Target. I only found blank greeting cards from the bin, but it was still fun to wander around the store hand in hand.

It was a great 2 year anniversary date!!!!! I love my Matthew!!!!!!

May 9, 2009

April 2, 2011

Mother's Day 2011

Although I do not have any pictures to prove it, Mother's Day was fabulous!!!!

The morning began by breakfast in bed; Matthew brought me Starbucks and a blueberry scone for breakfast! Another fun bonus was we let Addison sleep in until 8:45 am, so we enjoyed an extended breakfast in bed. Normally we wake Addison by 8:15 unless we were up super late the night before.

Along with my breakfast came a beautiful bouquet of spring flowers. I love fresh flowers! It's been a while since he has brought me any, so it was such a treat!

We web cammed both our moms to wish them Happy Mother's Day too!!

The rest of the day, Matthew served me like a princess...he did all the cleaning up, took care of Addison, everything. I just enjoyed a relaxed day!!!

Matthew is always so creative with his prizes. I would not trade my breakfast in bed over any gift of any monetary value. It was so sweet.

I am so thankful to be a mommy this year. I am so thankful for Addison and I am so thankful for Lil Manna. I hope that I never take this calling to motherhood lightly because it is an honor and privileged that I am so glad God granted me.

Addison Lately

Since I am not doing the regular monthly updates, I decided I would give updates when something somewhat interesting is going on with Addison. Below are some topical updates on Miss Addison Joy....

Mobility: As a regular reader you know Addison has been cruising and pulling up on everything for a long time now; she has also been standing alone (on purpose) since about 9 months. However, her sense of fear and her height (about 31 inches I believe) has slowed her ability to walk. Lately, Addison has been standing herself up from the ground (no pulling herself up on anything) standing alone for several moments and then trying to take a step or two. She more shuffles than anything but its funny. She has taken four shuffle steps at most so far. What's funny is she wants to do it on her own without any prompting from anyone. I was hoping she would not walk until we returned from MS at the end of the month but we shall see. Once I am more than 30 weeks pregnant with Manna, I am sure I will be READY for her to walk well!

Playgroup: Addison is loving her playgroup on Thursdays. We have gone every week for about 4-5 weeks now. All the children that attend were born in 2010. Addison is very polite, shares well (and by share I mean she does not throw a tantrum often when someone takes a toy from her), listens very well to mommy and definitely likes to show off her verbal abilities. Most of the kids are a little older than her so it is funny to see that she is bigger than all of them yet not walking. And for me? I love having one day every week where I KNOW I will have a little adult time and time to bounce ideas and thoughts off other moms at a similar place in life. Sadly we will not be attending Playgroup in the fall as Addison STARTS SCHOOL and attends school when play group meets. I will miss the playgroup, but we will see how she does with school.

Talking: I do not know where to begin here; she is picking up words left and right!! She can say at least 20 words (maybe more) and understands about 70% of what we say. She attempts most words we say to her. She is also learning to SAY words before we can finish teaching the sign in some cases. Her pronunciation is not perfect, but you can tell what she is saying. Ball, flower, Daddy, Mommy, Piper, dog, water, yes, no, bird, book, diaper, bye bye, hat, eye, wow, baby, love, hi, go, shoe and Addy are just a few of the words she can say now. Its so fun how fast she is learning. I never expected her to be talking this much right now.

Routine: We are starting to shrink the length of the morning nap to ensure our afternoon nap stays intact and stays a good length. The morning nap will probably be dropped completely at 16-20 months while afternoon nap with remain hopefully until she nearly four. I have reduced her morning nap to 1.5 hours (except on playgroup days then its only an hour or sometimes she doesn't have one) and the afternoon nap to about 2.5 hours. She naps from 10:30 to 12:00 and 2:30 to 5:00 pm. Over the course of the next several months we will continue to shrink the morning nap as needed and begin to move the afternoon nap earlier a bit. Once she has dropped the morning nap, the afternoon nap will probably run from 1:30-4:30 or 1:00-4:00 if I had to guess.

Next on my routine list is to structure her play time a little better. Children/babies really love and need boundaries and I have noticed when I let Addison have too much freedom while playing (ie the entire living room) she starts to get fussy. So, I will begin to structure her day closer to the the typical "Toddlerwise" child. She is JUST now ready for that. Wish me luck!

Independent Play: Addison is doing fabulous with independent play; IP is always in a pack in play. We are doing morning IP for 30 minutes after breakfast and then off and on in the evening for 20 minutes. We need to work on transitioning some IP to blanket time AND being more consistent with the evening IP. It is HILARIOUS to sneak and watch her play during IP, she usually plays with one of her three toys the entire time and all she does it try to figure out how it works.

Pack in Play Sleeping Practice: Ug. Since IP is in a pack and play, I realized the other day that she might have a little confusion sleeping in one. We are traveling to MS at the end of the month and while at my in laws house, she will sleep in a pack and play. Which got me thinking....confusion + the need to sleep in one rapidly approaching = PRACTICE. So I practiced her morning nap at a friends house in the pack in play; she never slept! I think it was bright in there which made her think she was supposed to be playing, not sleeping. Had I been at home I would have CIO for longer, but since I was at my friends house to spend time with her, hanging out was more important than practicing sleeping in a pack and play. The next day she napped in her room in the pack and play. After 1-2 minutes of fussing, she went to sleep. I will continue with IP in the pack and play AND will continue to nap her for the morning nap in there for practice. We will probably let her try a couple of nights in there too. Funny how much they notice change now.

Separation Anxiety: Addison was right on time for her 12-15 month separation anxiety phase. About 2-3 weeks ago, she started crying when I left her in the nursery at church. It only lasts about 1 minute so no biggie. She also cried when Matthew left her with some of our friends for an evening (I think its because she has been scared of men lately and Matthew happen to hand her off to the husband when he left), but she was over it in a matter of minutes. At least if she is going to have separation anxiety, she seems to recover fast.

Eating: I still do not love meal time...do not ask why, but what I do love is what a great eater she is. Addison loves just about everything you feed her. She of course favors certain things over others, but all in all she likes virtually everything we have tried. Last night I made pizza for dinner and after getting over the chewiness of it, she loved it. I do not know why, but kids eating pizza has always been cute to me. The best part was all three of us got to eat together and eat the same meal, a rare treat!!!! I am still trying to ensure she gets enough fats (milk, eggs, avocado, cheese) and iron (spinach, cereal, lentils) because she doesnt drink a TON of milk (she is just not a big drinker) and I want to hedge off an iron deficiency issues (I have/had them). Check out Little Tummy Yummies to see the latest and greatest on what she's eating.

She really is so sweet, such a great listener and truly very obedient. We are so incredibly blessed. She has her moments and has her little things that cause a tantrum, but thankfully she gets over it quickly. It would be much easier to get lazy now and start letting the parenting slide, but now that I can see the benefits, it is worth it. My favorite is when she lays her head on my shoulder, pats my back and just says "mommy" over and over again :)

Our Unlikely Story

In honor of our second anniversary on May 9, I decided to follow my penpal's lead and share Matthew and I's story of how we met. Many of you have heard this story or heard pieces of it. I love our story because it paints a beautiful picture of God's perfect plan and perfect timing. It is a little long, but we knew each other SIX AND A HALF years before we dated...wow!

August/September 2001 (my freshman year in college, Matthew sophomore year): My dear friend Amanda Craft introduces me to her ex-boyfriend Matthew Grant. Let me pause here to remind everyone that I LOVE Texas. I am a true Texan. I only left my homestate to pursue my dream of a deaf education major and Southern Miss had one of the best programs, so it was random chance that I even ended up at this school some 800 miles away from all that I held dear in Texas. God changed my heart about Southern Miss and I believe it was to get me where he wanted me....the place where I would meet my intended.

Anyways....In my friendship with Amanda all I heard about was this ex-boyfriend and how wonderful he was and how disappointed she was that God lead her to end their relationship. So, I met this Matthew guy and instantly thought "now this Mississippi boy is cute and that accent....man I cant believe I like it." Over the fall semester I would purposely wait in the same line as him in the commons (where everyone on campus ate) and we would occasionally eat together. I always secretly hoped we would bump into each other.

January 2002: I move into the same dorm as Matthew. Random chance. Period. This gave us the opportunity to bump into each other a lot. Matthew claims he saw me walking outside the dorm throughout the Spring 2002 semester wishing he could date me, but he never asked :)

Summer 2002: Yet again, random chance...we happen to move into the same apartment complex and only a few units apart. Throughout Fall 2002 I drove him to school several days a week, we would hav lunches together and of course we had random drop ins. I think this is when our friendship started to blossom.

Summer 2002-Spring 2004: Throughout this time Matthew and planned on campus lunches together...not as a date but as friends. Most of our conversations revolved around getting advice about our current relationships (or for me, my current interest since I did not really DO relationships). This time was so important to our future relationship because we learned all about our standards and learned how we handled ourselves in general. What did I learn about Matthew? That he was committed through the thick and thin, that when he was "in"-he was all in, that he was honorable, that he was loving and that he was the most caring and compassionate man I ever met. Every time one of us entertained the idea of dating the other in our mind, the other was not on the same page. It was an interesting back and forth that continuted all the way up until we FINALLY dated in 2008.

Spring 2004: Matthew graduates from college and we sorta lose touch a bit while I finish my senior year.

Spring 2005-Fall 2007: I graduate and begin a career eventually moving me to Memphis, TN. Matthew and I talk a lot more frequently and it seemed as though we might date....nope...I suck....I wasnt ready. Poor Matthew....I felt terrible but I knew it was not God's timing. Later I learned Matthew was even looking for jobs near me!!!!! Our friendship continues through email and phone calls.

Fall 2007: I call him up...I am ready...finally. But alas, he is dating someone so I decide to keep my distance to be respectful of his girlfriend and their relationship. I was very disappointed.

Winter 2007-Spring 2008: Matthew moves to the same city (Birmingham) as me for graduate school....RANDOM!!!!! He called me up once and then was MIA for months after that. I thought that was our last chance and we had missed it since he was still dating someone!!!

May 2008: Matthew emails me out of the blue and asks me out.....huh? I was so confused, but I accepted (sorta). I said he could come to my house and I would cook for him, I did not want him paying for me---he was in school!!! This is when it all began....

Summer 2008: I learned that the reason I did not hear from Matthew after the first time I saw him in Birmingham was that he did not want to be distracted from his current relationship. He wanted to focus everything on that relationship and giving it a shot to work out if that was God's plan. When he shared that with me, I knew he was the man I would marry (as funny as that sounds). That was July 2008, only a few months after we started dating. I did not tell anyone I felt that way, but I did. I knew he was the one.

September 2008: We said I love you.

December 22, 2008: Matthew asked me to marry him at the place where our journey began, Southern Miss. It was perfect.

May 9, 2009: I married the most wonderful, caring, compassionate, loving, honorable (and so much more) man. I am blessed beyond measure. I still feel that newlywed love even to this day....2 years, one baby and a second baby on the way later.

Some might say we moved too quickly into marriage and children, but when you know God's will it is our duty to follow as He leads when He leads. We try our best to be obedient to His will. I consider it an honor and blessing to spend everyday for the rest of my life with my bestest friend ever of all times ever. I love him more everyday and cannot wait to see where this life leads us....it has been very exciting so far :)

Avocado Check Up--16 Weeks

So nothing too fancy, but just a quick 16 week update on Manna from our doctor visit today.

16 week doctor appointment:

We had our 16 week doc appointment today. Addison minded so well when the nurse and/or doctor was in the room, in fact every time we laughed...she joined in too. When it was just she and I, she got antsy.

Anyways, I was very anxious for todays appointment because a couple of weeks ago when I went in for something non-manna related they wanted to listen to the heartbeat "real fast" and were unable to find it. Out with the ultrasound machine and within seconds, there Manna was bouncing in and out of the screen. So, this appointment I was ready to hear the heartbeat for the first time! After a few seconds, we heard it; the doctor counted the heartbeat and just as soon as she started.....Manna bounced out...then back in. We have a lil mover on our hands! All is well. We are putting off our anatomy ultrasound as late as possible since we do not find out the gender and so we could combine it with the next regular appointment. I like combining appointments and limiting my time in a waiting room as much as possible :) Next appointment is June 7 (unless Matthew cannot come with me, I like him to come to the ultrasound..tee hee).

Here is a little info on Manna:

Get ready for a growth spurt. In the next few weeks, your baby will double his weight and add inches to his length. Right now, he's about the size of an avocado: 4 1/2 inches long (head to rump) and 3 1/2 ounces. His legs are much more developed, his head is more erect than it has been, and his eyes have moved closer to the front of his head. His ears are close to their final position, too. The patterning of his scalp has begun, though his locks aren't recognizable yet. He's even started growing toenails. And there's a lot happening inside as well. For example, his heart is now pumping about 25 quarts of blood each day, and this amount will continue to increase as your baby continues to develop.

I feel like between week 15 and 16 there was a growth spurt...my tummy popped out a lot. Maybe our due date is off?? :)

How am I feeling?

I had several days of horrible heartburn but it passed...so we are golden again!

Prayer this week:

I praise you and thank you for a wonderful doctor visit...you are truly a wonderful creator!

Baby Sign Language, Does It Work? Little Joy's Journey

**This is also posted on my other blog "Little Tummy Yummies"!*

To see some of Addison's (aka Little Joy in this article) signs on video click on the "Sign Language" blog label on the right side of the page

Let me begin by answering the question posed in this blog title: a resounding YES, YES, YES!!! I must warn you, this post is long however it is broken up into parts so that you can read it in pieces.

Before Little Joy was even born, I knew we wanted to try baby signing with her. I was a deaf education major my first year in college and although I decided to change my major, I still had a passion and appreciation for sign language. I had little knowledge on how to approach teaching sign language to a baby or even what signs to do, but I was determined to do it!!

Many people we told about trying baby sign language made me feel very discouraged about our venture, I almost abandoned it. I even read a few articles that discouraged it. Luckily, my fellow Little Tummy Yummies author was also an advocate, so I did not feel alone and forged ahead! Here were some of the things I heard:

• There are no benefits (or they did not take the time to research possible benefits)
• They simply did not understand the point
• Why not wait until they are verbal?
• It will discourage your baby's verbal development
• You cannot teach a baby to sign
• I have had one person tell me I was silly to try it!?!?!?

I am writing this blog today to share our wonderful experience with sign language; it has been nothing but a true blessing. Using my personal experience with my family of three--soon the be four (I am not doing a scientific study here), below is what I will discuss in this article. I gleaned some of this information from "Teach Your Baby to Sign" by Monica Beyer.

1. Discuss myths about baby sign language
2. Benefits to teaching baby sign languages
3. My personal approach to teach baby sign language

Baby Sign Language:

Myths-BUSTED

I would like to reiterate, this is not scientific, this is just my family's personal experience with baby signing as we taught Little Joy. Some of the myths we busted in our adventure of baby sign language so far are listed below.

• Signing delays speech: FALSE! From the outside looking in, I can see how one may believe this as true. Someone thinks "sign language" = "no speaking"; this is absolutely not the case. Part of teaching sign language is encouraging the spoken word along with the sign. For example, as we taught Little Joy the sign "milk", we always, without exception, said "MILK" as we did the sign. She is hearing AND seeing the word. If signing were taught in luie of speaking, it may delay speech but speech was part of our approach to baby signing. And guess what? Little Joy is one of the most articulate 13 month olds. I know I am partial but you know it is true when child care workers, doctors and parents of older children tell you that. By Little Joy's first birthday she could say: button, out, purple, up, down, dog, duck, Addy, Dada, Me (that is what she calls Mommy), baby, bottle, cheese, bean, pea...and many more.
• Baby's cannot sign/baby's cannot sign before they are verbal: FALSE! I can only say that this is simply not true, Little Joy was signing as young as 7 months, so that busts this myth. Besides, all babies communicate with their hands---reaching for an object they want, pushing something away they do not want, etc. Sign language just gives purpose to the hand motions and is communicated in a way WE understand.
• There are no benefits: FALSE! I have an entire section devoted to the benefits we have experienced, but a huge one is your baby is able to communicate wants/needs without the need to whine/cry. For example, Little Joy points at an object and signs "please" when she wants it vs pointing and crying to get my attention.

Baby Sign Language:

Benefits

There are many, many benefits to teaching baby sign language, but these are just a few we experienced on our journey.

• Promotes early communication: Most children do not begin to say their first words other than the "mamama" and "dadada" babble until at least 12-14 months. Babies who learn sign language are able to communicate on a very basic level early. For us, Little Joy began consistently signing her first sign, finished, at 8 months. She signed "milk" and "finished" without great consistency at about 7 months. After she mastered her first one with consistency, her signing took off and by 12 months old she could pick up a new sign in just a few days. Had we not done sign language, at 12 (almost 13 months) I still do not think she would have an effective way to say she was finished with something. By one year she could sign: milk, more, please, snake, eat, thank you, play, finished, bye, bath, potty, change your diaper, sleep and maybe a few more I cannot remember. With that many signs she can tell us what she needs without the need for fussing which brings us to the next point.
• Communication vs. whining/crying: Clearly if a child can communicate their needs there is less frustration which means less fussing (which means a happy mommy). I will give you one practical example of this: when your little one wants a toy that is out of reach how do they communicate that need to you? Well my answer before Little Joy learned the "please" sign was, she grunted and fussed or even cried to let me know. Now? She points at the object and signs "please" until I get her the desired toy (this does NOT mean she gets anything she wants either). She has even come to find me and pointed to the room signing please, I follow and she goes to the object and signs "please" again :) Remember, fussing and crying is a normal part of any baby, pre-toddler and toddler's day so please understand we still have crying and fussing and tantrums. What I noticed was as she signed more efficiently (or even spoke) the fussing dramatically decreased. Now most of our fussing is tired or teething or diaper changing related, she hates diaper changes.
• Enhances all non-verbal communication: Only recently did I notice that Little Joy has begun to attempt to express her self in other non verbal and non sign language ways. I notice that when she is trying to communicate she uses her hands to point and reach and even makes up her own signs before restoring to crying. Random observation.
• Fun and easy: A huge benefit is teaching sign language to your baby is it's fun, easy and exciting (especially when they sign back!!). Signs are simple for us to learn and thus easy to teach and use throughout our day. In a section below I will discuss my approach, but in a nutshell it is as simple as starting with five signs and signing them at every opportunity and soon enough----your little one will respond, it is that easy!!!!
• Fills the gap: Sign Language fills the gap between a child has the cognitive ability to communicate (the process of thought) but not the physical ability (muscles required to form words).
• CAN promote early speech: Again I cannot back this up with a 500 person double blind study, but I can tell you that Little Joy's speech seems to be slightly more developed than her peers. I am NOT trying to say she is smarter or better or ANYTHING else. I am going by observations and what her doctor and other moms say. I believe Little Joy has spoken earlier because when we sign, it forces us to use the same word every time we sign it. She was able to say dog and hat clear as day at about 9-10 months but I believe it is because every time we signed it we said "dog" not "puppy", "dog", "doggie", etc. interchangeably. This was not on purpose, it was an accident. It is as if you cannot say an interchangeable word with a consistent sign. I hope that makes sense. I have lost count of the number of words Little Joy can say; some are not perfect I will be the first to admit. She can say upwards of a dozen to 15 or more words at barely 13 months. Let me reiterate, I think the early speech is related to the parents using consistent words and finding reasons to USE those words vs some giftedness she has. Consistency and Intent is all I believe it is.

Baby Sign Language:

Personal Teaching Approach

Here is a run down on how I implemented our baby sign language:

1. Selected 5 signs to use. I chose 5 signs that would excite her or would be relevant everyday to her. We started with milk, finished, dog, bath and change your diaper. Milkbecause she nursed 4 times a day then so we had lots of opportunities to reinforce it.Finished because it was easy to indicate finished by ending an activity or eating or anything. Dog because our precious little toy poodle is her favorite playmate and it excites her to see her anytime! Bath because it was a constant in her routine and fun (I admit we slacked on this one as we are just now really teaching it to her). Change your diaperbecause well we all know that occurs often!
2. Used the five signs consistently and tried to find a reason to sign them. Every time we had an opportunity to sign the word we did it. That meant every time she drank milk or got a diaper change we did our best to always sign it. We would also find an excuse to sign as well; dog was a great one to randomly reinforce.
3. Started (consistently) at 5 months. You can begin at anytime your baby is considered pre-verbal. We chose to begin at about 5 months because we were beginning solids so opportunities for signs like finished and more abounded. More and eat were not in our original list, but it soon was added! At 5 months, we used signs every chance we had.
4. How do you teach the sign? In my approach there were two ways to sign (remember there was ALWAYS a verbal cue to accompany every sign) 1) by demonstrating it; that is just doing the sign as I say the word. Keep in mind the sign has to be relevant, I should not sign dog for no reason; there should be a dog (picture or real) around so they understand what the sign MEANS. 2) By doing the sign for them. For more complicated signs or just to reinforce, I would take Little Joy's hands and do the sign for her as I said the word. This was particularly helpful with the "abstract" signs such as thank you, please and finished. In the end it is, repetition, repetition, repetition.
5. Results: This will vary so widely, so I wont even comment other than.....it will come. Keep in mind, the earlier you start the longer it might be until you see results. If you start at 11 months vs 5 months, you are likely to see results much faster.
6. Sign Explosion: Once Little Joy mastered a couple of signs she realized she was able communicate and that is when her ability and desire to sign took off. I would say the explosion happened around 10-11 months for her. At about 12 months, it only takes signing something a few times before she starts to pick up on it.
7. Start with concrete then move to the abstract: After the initial five signs are consistent, add several more concrete signs before moving on to abstract. Abstract signs would be please, thank you, yes, etc. Abstract is a bit harder to not only teach but for them to really understand the meaning. Abstract are things they do not experience directly.
8. Keep on Keeping on: Just keep on signing every chance you have and add to the sign vocabulary at the pace your child seems comfortable with.

Fun Story: We were having dinner the other night and my husband was telling me something very important. Little Joy was getting antsy from being in her high chair for an hour at this point and I knew if she drank some milk it would take her mind off getting down, at least until my husband had finished sharing with me. In all signs I said "drink your milk please". She instantly smiled and drank. It was awesome. I do not recommend always replacing your words with signs, but it was appropriate it here :)

Well, that is my journey in signing. I have enjoyed every single moment and cannot wait to sign with our baby #2 due on October!!! Please, please ask questions, make comments...anything. I want to know about your experiences too!

Dying Easter Eggs

I kinda forgot we dyed Easter Eggs over Easter weekend!!! Addison did not get tooo into it, but she always enjoys watching adults do stuff; I think she enjoys adult company the best...probably because they understand her "please" and "thank yous" and other signs! Soon enough the other babies will understand though!!!

Writing her name on the Egg

Putting Stickers on the Eggs

Dunking the eggs in the dye

Wearing Piper's dress on her head....which of course makes it a hat to her. Anything that she touches to her head she says "hat" over and over again!