We watch "Baby Signing Time" videos we buy on Amazon. Another mom turned me on to them. Clara loves them more than Everett at the time, he's into "Baby Babble". I like both and there's a lot to learn from both. Clara knows at least 25 signs. I have to reference her all the time. She is a great resource. Everett is starting to sign, he knows: more, all done, elephant, shoes, eat, blows kisses, and he waved bye today once. He gets them mixed up sometimes but he knows he is trying to tell me something and we figure it out together.
Anyway, the woman Rachel who makes these DVDs has quite a story of her own with the challenges here (once) little ones faced. She created these DVDs after learning how important it was to sign to her children. We saw her live in Sarasota area a few weekends back. She is so sweet. There was a mosh pit of kids and she didn't think anything of it, she was so thrilled to see all the little faces and although there was no AC she kept on and had a smile the whole time. She must make a huge impact on so many lives, it's amazing how signing is a quick form of communicating for babies. Once they catch on that they can tell you something the light goes off, I can tell that the door has opened for Everett and I know he's going to continue to pick up more and more signs. We taught Clara sign language when she was a baby because I heard it really helped developmentally and of course limits a crying baby when she can tell you what she wants/needs. She started to speak so soon after we dropped it. I can tell Everett is going to need signing to communicate, of course I have no idea for how long, but his language is very delayed. I know he understands me, it's so clear to me he has thoughts he wants to express as well. We're building files for one day when he's ready and able to talk and filling him with vocabulary.
We met Renee and her family, a connection I made in the NICU for this show. I also met Angela, her friend. They both have two babies, one of each has DS. We went out to dinner after. It was a good time. I also learned that there isn't just "Baby Signing Time" there's also "Signing Time" which we need now that Clara has mastered all "Baby Signing Time" videos and she is my "go to" since I never have time to watch the videos and learn the signs, I have all the song memorized of course from listening to them in the background, but couldn't tell you half of the signs.
She came down first thing and sang to Clara and Everett. Clara was so excited.
