And Down Will Come Baby...
We have had a repeat in history.
This is Evan when he was 10 months old...
While visiting Grandma & Grandad, we had a "malfunction" with their high chair. We had the same one at home & the tray was really secure (with a bar that came down between his legs) so we could just sort of plop him in it & not worry about strapping him in.
Grandma & Grandad's apparently wasn't as secure as our's. I plopped him in it & walked a few feet away to grab his food, when I heard what sounded like the tray falling to the ground... turned around & he had fallen face-down onto the underside of the tray. I still don't know exactly how he got the cut. As you can see, he was no worse for wear... I felt AWFUL!!
You would THINK I had learned my lesson...
THIS is a picture of Brynlea from today...
She is 10 months old...
She was in OUR high chair (which is still very secure) - however, she has her strange contortionist skills (see: THIS post) which she has only honed & perfected since I did that post. She is a very "bendy one". While I was only a few feet away, grabbing her breakfast, she actually managed to do a back bend OVER the side of the tray until she got her foot up & pushed off the tray to LAUNCH herself over the side of the tray & onto the ground! Because of her amazing back-bend abilities, she actually landed on her tummy - it is one of the VERY few times (okay, probably the ONLY time) since we have lived here, that I have been grateful for my carpeted dining room (yes. That is what I said... carpeted... yuck).
I again have no idea how she got the cut.
Needless to say, our days of not using the straps in our high chair are done.
***********************************************************************************
Bye Bye Baby
On the happier side of things, Brynlea has started waving "bye-bye".
I ALWAYS look forward to this stage for two main reasons...
1 - it is SO darn cute!!
2 - it means I can start teaching sign language.
We have taught each of our babies to sign in varying degrees. I have had one very early talker (who also waved bye-bye at 6mths & had about 10 signs by a year old - then started talking) & I have had one VERY late talker. I don't believe the signing influenced the speech in either direction. It simply made me more able to communicate with my very young children.
We mostly do "essential" words - the ones that are most likely to induce tantrums (ie: bottle, soother, drink, all done, gentle, please... etc) - I LOVE IT!!! I can hardly wait for the time my children reach the stage where they can start to communicate with me.
Don't get me wrong, I generally know by Brynlea's cries whether she is tired, hungry, wants a bottle, etc.
What I enjoy is her being able to TELL me instead of crying.
As each child has caught on they usually have a couple of favorite things that we end up needing a sign for... swings, ball, baby, cookie... all these things they are able to point out & you really start to see how observant they are. They can spot their favorite things from GREAT distances & amongst many other objects. I find it fascinating.
I also think Evan & I would not have gotten along nearly as well as we did over his prolonged lack of talking had he not had a way to express his needs. He actually started to create his OWN signs for things that interested him (ie: he used to cover one eye with his hand & say "ARRR" for pirate!! I couldn't believe he came up with that one! - Mostly because of Wiggles/Captain Feathersword)
When Averie was less than a year old, she woke up one night with a fever. As soon as I walked in the room she started to blow rapidly through pursed lips, like she was blowing bubbles - this is the sign for "hot". I was amazed she was able to tell me what was wrong!
I gave her some tylenol & a bottle - snuggled for a bit then put her in her back in bed. As I began to leave she started to urgently cry - I turned around & she did the sign for "baby". I got her little rag doll & gave it to her & she contentedly rolled over & went to sleep. I was dumbfounded!! I would never have imagined before that a child that young would even care about having a doll in bed. I was also struck by the fact that without sign language, I would NEVER have figured out her simple request & she likely would have just cried herself to sleep after much frustration on both our parts.
My good friend Alana's daughter Madison is actually who inspired me to research about baby sign. She is 9 months older than Averie & I noticed one day that because everyone growled when they showed her a teddy bear, she had started to growl every time she saw one. It had become her "word" for Bear. I wondered if she would be able to learn other "words" that would be more useful in Mommy's world :) So we got a book & tried it - she proceeded to learn probably more than 30 signs before she learned to talk. A lot of them she would use in conjunction with words for a long time even after she started speaking (Averie did this as well).
Now... I am getting off my soapbox.
With no further adeiu, here is my sweet girl waving "Bye Bye"...
We have had a repeat in history.
This is Evan when he was 10 months old...
While visiting Grandma & Grandad, we had a "malfunction" with their high chair. We had the same one at home & the tray was really secure (with a bar that came down between his legs) so we could just sort of plop him in it & not worry about strapping him in.
Grandma & Grandad's apparently wasn't as secure as our's. I plopped him in it & walked a few feet away to grab his food, when I heard what sounded like the tray falling to the ground... turned around & he had fallen face-down onto the underside of the tray. I still don't know exactly how he got the cut. As you can see, he was no worse for wear... I felt AWFUL!!
You would THINK I had learned my lesson...
THIS is a picture of Brynlea from today...
She is 10 months old...
She was in OUR high chair (which is still very secure) - however, she has her strange contortionist skills (see: THIS post) which she has only honed & perfected since I did that post. She is a very "bendy one". While I was only a few feet away, grabbing her breakfast, she actually managed to do a back bend OVER the side of the tray until she got her foot up & pushed off the tray to LAUNCH herself over the side of the tray & onto the ground! Because of her amazing back-bend abilities, she actually landed on her tummy - it is one of the VERY few times (okay, probably the ONLY time) since we have lived here, that I have been grateful for my carpeted dining room (yes. That is what I said... carpeted... yuck).
I again have no idea how she got the cut.
Needless to say, our days of not using the straps in our high chair are done.
***********************************************************************************
Bye Bye Baby
On the happier side of things, Brynlea has started waving "bye-bye".
I ALWAYS look forward to this stage for two main reasons...
1 - it is SO darn cute!!
2 - it means I can start teaching sign language.
We have taught each of our babies to sign in varying degrees. I have had one very early talker (who also waved bye-bye at 6mths & had about 10 signs by a year old - then started talking) & I have had one VERY late talker. I don't believe the signing influenced the speech in either direction. It simply made me more able to communicate with my very young children.
We mostly do "essential" words - the ones that are most likely to induce tantrums (ie: bottle, soother, drink, all done, gentle, please... etc) - I LOVE IT!!! I can hardly wait for the time my children reach the stage where they can start to communicate with me.
Don't get me wrong, I generally know by Brynlea's cries whether she is tired, hungry, wants a bottle, etc.
What I enjoy is her being able to TELL me instead of crying.
As each child has caught on they usually have a couple of favorite things that we end up needing a sign for... swings, ball, baby, cookie... all these things they are able to point out & you really start to see how observant they are. They can spot their favorite things from GREAT distances & amongst many other objects. I find it fascinating.
I also think Evan & I would not have gotten along nearly as well as we did over his prolonged lack of talking had he not had a way to express his needs. He actually started to create his OWN signs for things that interested him (ie: he used to cover one eye with his hand & say "ARRR" for pirate!! I couldn't believe he came up with that one! - Mostly because of Wiggles/Captain Feathersword)
When Averie was less than a year old, she woke up one night with a fever. As soon as I walked in the room she started to blow rapidly through pursed lips, like she was blowing bubbles - this is the sign for "hot". I was amazed she was able to tell me what was wrong!
I gave her some tylenol & a bottle - snuggled for a bit then put her in her back in bed. As I began to leave she started to urgently cry - I turned around & she did the sign for "baby". I got her little rag doll & gave it to her & she contentedly rolled over & went to sleep. I was dumbfounded!! I would never have imagined before that a child that young would even care about having a doll in bed. I was also struck by the fact that without sign language, I would NEVER have figured out her simple request & she likely would have just cried herself to sleep after much frustration on both our parts.
My good friend Alana's daughter Madison is actually who inspired me to research about baby sign. She is 9 months older than Averie & I noticed one day that because everyone growled when they showed her a teddy bear, she had started to growl every time she saw one. It had become her "word" for Bear. I wondered if she would be able to learn other "words" that would be more useful in Mommy's world :) So we got a book & tried it - she proceeded to learn probably more than 30 signs before she learned to talk. A lot of them she would use in conjunction with words for a long time even after she started speaking (Averie did this as well).
Now... I am getting off my soapbox.
With no further adeiu, here is my sweet girl waving "Bye Bye"...
2 comments:
That's awesome (the signing...not the ouchy) If/when I have more kids I would love to teach them sign....you'll have to be my tutor!!!
Krista , you don't need a tutor just the best book in the world. It is called Baby Signs and has been featured on show like Oprah and the Today Show in the US. It is amazing and has lots of stories of real parents and babies and their experiences with sign. Once you get started it is the easiest thing in the world. Just watch out for your babies interpretation of the signs you teach. Just like they might say nana instead of grandma, they might sign a little differently than how you taught them. (I'm thinking of the time Madison was trying to tell me she wanted a cracker. Sign was supposed to be part your elbow instead she patted her wrist.)
Anyways, this is supposed to be for Erin! I am amazed at how much Brynlea looks exactly like Averie. Evan looks just like her too but he's a boy and you can tell. Bye, bye Brynlea!
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