Monday, February 1, 2010

Signs of the Times

      Jared has a huge vocabulary!  I know it may not seem that way since he also likes his pacifier but I decided to keep a list of what he knows and wanted to show it off. 
      We've been using signs (American Sign language) with Jared since he was about 7 mon+/- for as many words as possible as well as for the ABC's and some songs.  I've studied a few books but most of what we use comes from Michael since he's been using ASL since he was a kid.  He's pretty amazing with what he still remembers.  :) 
      Anyway, Jared didn't start using his hands for awhile but once he conqured hand/eye coordination he's been communicating like crazy!  Signs are easier than speaking words at first.  And now that he can speak more words, he doesn't use his signs as often.   For anyone with a younger baby who is learning to talk, signing was an amazing experience and helped us understand Jared more quickly and have less crying and whining. 
     Here's what we started with, when we were teaching signs and words (April-Oct 09):
SIGNS                                                 WORDS
more            car                                     momma       hot
please          bird                                   dad            bubble
soft            hot                                       flower        bear
airplane        milk                                   ball           star
cup            diaper                                   hat
butterfly        dog
rabbit

And here's what he uses now, as of the beginning of Feb '10:
(All of the above and)
SIGNS                                           WORDS
cat (meow)                                         Hi         Bye       No
Aah (for toothbrushing)                      Um       Yes       cookie
Popsicle (licking noises)                      more      please      cup
kiss (lip smack)                                  diaper    doggy     book
prayer (folds arms)                           flip      spoon       fork
                                                        Yay!        Wow!     hop
                                                       door        light        hot
                                                       stinky      on         off
                                                       amen      wahwah (pacifier)
Pretty exciting! Jared is an awesome kid.  Now I have to figure out how to upload another video clip so you can see him in action.  :)

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