I take a Bible Study at church on Wednesday mornings... I love it. Havana has done so incredibly well in their weekday childcare program due to a lot of prayer and a wonderful teacher named "Ms. Denise." We LOVE Ms. Denise and Ms. Denise loves Havana! She is the one who asked who in our home was deaf because of all the signs that H knew. She also pointed out to me how smart Havana is. I, of course, already knew how smart she was, but it was so nice to have someone else tell me that. She tells me all the things H knows and how she expresses it to her. I love that. I love that she takes time to understand H's ways of communicating. It is to the point now that H does not even cry when we drop her off.. she just runs to Ms. Denise. If you know my daughter, you know this is rare.
Anyway, this post is not about Ms. Denise (although she is worthy of her own blog post :). I have always asked H questions - even from when she was a tiny baby. "What did you do today in the nursery?" "Who did you play with?" "What did you learn?"
I have come to accept that these questions really go unanswered. I ask them more out of habit than anything. On the way home today, I was asking her questions and I asked, "What did you have for snack today, pretty?" I look back and Havana was doing the sign for "Cracker."
I took a sharp breath in. I know she had a cracker today as her snack in the nursery... that is the only snack they give the kids. I knew she knew the sign for cracker, but I didn't think she was listening to my questions and I certainly didn't know if she would remember enough to sign it back to me unprompted. I choked up. My daughter was communicating with me. While I generally know what she wants or is trying to say based on the fact I'm her mommy and know what she likes/is used to doing... Today was one of the very first times I have ever simply asked her a question about her day (a part of the day i was not in) and she answered me accurately with a sign. She really is listening to me and engaging in dialogue with me. I am so grateful for sign language to give us a form of communication.
3 comments:
I love baby signs too! I would love to learn more. Facebook me with some book suggestions!
I only know about 10-12 that are pretty common. I have already been signing to Bella...like "all done" after her last bite of food. I am excited for the day she signs back to me!
I did: all done, more, thank you, please, and sorry with Havana from the beginning. But now she knows certain foods, drinks, all her animals, colors, toys, games, emotions, questions... you name it/she knows it.
A large part of my knowledge came from our speech therapist, but I highly recommend the "singing time" (not baby signing time) to learn a lot of words. I watch them, not H, and pick up all the words to then teach her. You can find a lot of them on youtube or nickjr.com -- I also have some apps for my phone where you type in the word and they show you the sign...
You are giving your daughter the gift of communication! It is truly wonderful!
Don't you just love those moments when you really connect with your kids?
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