Baby sign language

As I mentioned in a previous blog John and I have been reading lots of books about raising children - more specifically we've been reading a lot of books on how to successfully manage raising a baby. Now, that's not to say we don't have practical experience - both of us have spent a decent amount of time around babies... but we figure things change - and clearly they do. In telling our parents what the various baby books say both of our mom's have been known to say "it's a miracle you survived..." A perfect example: when I was a baby all the doctors in the world agreed that you absolutely had to put a baby to sleep on it's stomach. Putting a baby to sleep on it's stomach helped to ensure that the baby wouldn't die of SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). Today, a mere 28 years later, all the doctors in the world agree that YOU MUST PUT THE BABY TO SLEEP ON ITS BACK. That's just one example of many of how things change.

One thing that hasn't changed is that long before babies learn to speak they learn to make certain movements in attempt to communicate what they want. From what I've read the idea of baby signing has been around for a very long time. In recent years baby signing has become extremely popular. Parents can now take baby signing classes, so that they can learn the movements are easiest for a baby to learn. It's also being reported that baby signing actually helps make children better communicators. This makes sense to me, because the way I see it a baby that starts communication several months earlier then others gets lots more practice. As my mom always used to say "practice makes perfect" and in this situation I guess it's true.

So, to make a long story short I recently added a baby signing book to our collection of child raising books. My hope, is that by the time the baby is old enough to start signing I will have figured out enough signs to be able to teach the little girl / guy how to tell me it's tired and hungry. I can just imagine John and I practicing the signs now. I wonder how one says "I'd like to order the Caesar salad" in baby sign language? (Laughing)