It's Signing Time!

I mean I hate to brag, but I've got one smart kid....at least when she wants to be! Let me explain....

We've been working on about half a dozen ASL signs for several months now.  As I've blogged about in the past I started signing "milk" when Olivia was about 6 months old and I was still nursing her.  She didn't start using the sign until she was close to 11 months and coincidently right around the time I was weaning her to whole milk in a sippy cup. Anyway, she's consistently used the sign since which, let me tell you, has avoided more than a few meltdowns from me not knowing what she wants.  "Milk" may be her most used sign, but she's also used "more," "finished/all done" and "food" since around the same time.

Once she got those down I would occasionally (but not consistently like is recommended) sign the word "thank you" and finally one day she mimicked me. In the past few weeks she's started signing "thank you" without any prompting and at the appropriate time, ie when I hand her her milk.

Every time I go to the library I get a few signing DVDs out. She doesn't watch many videos, but I figured these would at least help me pick up some more signs and then I could start using them with her.  So the other day my husband, popped one of the Signing Time DVDs in for the first time, and was watching it with Olivia. The host was singing the theme song and signing the entire song. The song goes something like "It's signing time with Alex and Leah...There's signing time, and playing time so many words and so little time." As you can see she says the word "time" a lot in a short period of...time.  The song ends on the word "time" and as it ended my husband spotted my daughter signing "time." She wasn't doing it exactly right; instead of pointing at her wrist with her opposite pointer finger, she was using her pointer finger to point at the palm of her other hand. But she did it every time the host said "time" and she's done it every time we ask her "what time is it."

So what am I getting at here? Yes, "time" for a 15 month is rather useless, let's be honest. But the point is how quickly these little sponges of ours can pick up things.  After seeing just how quickly Olivia picked her favorite new sign, I decided I'd work on another sign "play." She copied me immediately. While Olivia's ASL signs aren't exactly correct in technique they are working the way they are supposed to as far as communication. She can't yet say the words "milk, more, play, time," but we can communicate with each other, without meltdowns, because we can understand each other.

Some argue that using signs delays speech, but I've found it to be totally opposite. Now that Olivia realizes that communication is a cause and effect and that something happens when she signs, she wants more. In other words, she wants to say words so she can get more reaction to her needs and wants. One thing I have noticed is she won't or will rarely sign for a word that she can say. For example she has NEVER signed "mommy" or "daddy" and I believe it's because she has been saying "mama" and "dada" since about the time she started with her first signs.

Have you successfully used baby sign language with your baby or toddler? What's your experience been?

Related Links

Signing Time DVD series
How to teach baby sign language
How I got started teaching Olivia ASL baby sign langauge

Steep Discounts on Photo Gifts (perfect for the grandparents)...but you have to hurry

Every year I scratch my head trying to figure out what to give my grandparents and my husband's grandparents as a Christmas gift. Now that I have Olivia, a framed picture is always a welcome gift. But as I was trying to decide which, of the many adorable pictures I should print and frame, I had a genius idea! I would make a photo calendar and I wouldn't have to have decide!


A few years back I made my in-laws a Snapfish photo calendar using pictures from my brother-in-law's wedding. It came out beautifully and they loved it. I liked that I could pretty much customize everything including putting pictures on specific calendar dates for things such as birthdays and anniversaries.  


So, I headed back to Snapfish a few days ago and started putting together a few more calendars for the great-grandparents. I was so excited when I found this 30% off coupon for of all things...calendars! (I usually find some great Snapfish coupon, but it's for something other than what I'm ordering.) You can use the coupon too! Just go to Snapfish through this link and use the coupon code 30CAL2009 at checkout to get 30% off all photo calendars.

Here are a few other Snapfish coupons I came across as well...if you're ordering something other than a photo calendar!

50% Off Photo Books with Coupon Code RRBOOK (Offer Expires 12/2)

By using this code Snapfish will also donate $1 from every order to a food bank in your state!!!

Free shipping on orders of $30 or more with coupon code 30SHIP09  

25% Off Photo Cards Use Coupon Code 25CARD2009 (Offer Expires 1/31)

Sleep, Oh Sleep...where art thou?

I'm sorry that I have been a bad blogging mommy. But I do have a legit excuse. My usual writing time, aka nap time, has been cut in half the last few weeks. Clearly, loooonnnngggg gone are the days when my sleeping beauty would sleep anywhere...for hours on end!

Olivia is s.l.o.w.l.y. going down to one nap and it has been a painful process...for me, not her. I blogged a few weeks ago with some tips on transitioning from two to one naps, but I think I need to make some amendments to my advice. Some of it, I've realized is flat out wrong (at least for Olivia, maybe not for your child since there seems to be no 'right' or 'wrong' way to do this).  I guess that's what you get since motherhood has proven, to me at least, to be trial and error.

Some days she manages fine on one nap (usually around 11:30am) other days she's ready for a nap at 9:30 in which case I force her to take an afternoon nap. The problem is no matter what time she goes down for a nap she'll only sleep for 90 minutes. That's a problem when she gets up at 11am and is up for the rest of the day because she refuses to take an afternoon nap.  It's still a problem when she gets up at 1pm because she's a miserable mess by 5pm, but it's too late to put her down for a second nap.

You're probably wondering why I'm so worried about the 90 minute nap? If she's sleeping 12-13 hours at night why lose sleep over it (pun intended)? The problem is she wakes up crying from her naps, she's still clearly tired, but she has a huge poop in her diaper and won't go back to sleep even after I change it. I've tried changing it and putting her back down, I've tried leaving her up there for 20-30 minutes hoping she'll realize it's not time to get up and fall back asleep. Nothing works.  I've also tried and tried to put her down for an afternoon nap when she gets up too early, but she resists. I feel like I've tried the nap schedule every which way but nothing works.

• Early lunch at 11am, nap at 11:30. She wakes up at 1pm with a poop and refuses to go back down. 
• Early lunch at 11am, play time to encourage poop, nap at 12pm. She's exhausted and can't stay up late enough to poop...wakes up at 1:30pm with a poop and refuses to go back down.
  
• Snack at 10am, Nap at 11:30. She wakes up at 1pm hungry and refuses to go back down
• Nap at 9:30 am, wake up at 11. Lunch at 12pm. Refuses an afternoon nap no matter what I do.
  

Twice I have been able to keep her up until about 12:30 and both those days she's slept until at least 3pm. Also I've noticed that she's pooped before her nap on those days. So now I'm trying to figure out how to encourage a big ol' poopy diaper before the single early afternoon nap.

Aw, the 'projects' I never imagined I'd have to tackle before I was entered new mamahood!

What's been your strategy for moving your child from two naps to one? 

More Sleep & Nap Help

How to Get a Baby to Sleep

Getting Your Baby to Sleep Through the Night

Crying It Out: The Last Resort

Trouble With Naps

The 45 Minute Nap

How Much Sleep Does My Baby Need

Get Some Sleep: Turn Off the Baby Monitor

Unswaddling: Cold Turkey Style

Why I love my 'J.O.B.'

I've said it before and I'll say it again I never planned to be SAHM, but oh how happy I am it worked out the way it did. As they say a picture is worth a thousand words...so here are my top five reasons why I love being a stay-at-home mom!

And last but not least...a baby free week where I didn't have to get request vaca!

"You need to see a specialist"

Well, those aren't exactly the words you want to hear from your child's pediatrician. But that's just what Olivia's told me yesterday when I went in for of all things her 15 month well-visit.  Little did I know she had her 9th or 10th (I've lost track) ear infection. Poor thing has had three since mid-September.

I guess she's used to the pain because she doesn't give me any clues she's uncomfortable. No waking up at night, no ear pulling, no fever, no crankieness (well, she did have sum but I chalked that up to the three teeth that popped through this week). Sunday she woke up with a clear snot runny nose and by Tuesday a full-fledged ear infection.

So we're off to see an ENT to find out if she'll need tubes or if there's something else that can be done.  Of course I'll keep you posted, but in the meantime I wanted to post this link to share some FAQ about chronic ear infections for any of you who may be going through the same thing!