This week Evelyn started using some new baby signs and really focusing on signs in general. It's like she suddenly fully realized the importance of using her baby sign language and is gung-ho to move it to the next level. She's been doing milk, water and potty on occasion for the last three months or so, but not necessarily when she wanted any of those things and always with a look of silliness on her face like she didn't quite believe what she was doing. But now, she has a whole new relationship with those signs. She is visibly thoughtful before she does one of the signs and she is using them in situations when she is frustrated because she wants something and isn't getting it.
She picked up the sign for "more" this week and is so thrilled to use it. Our most difficult times of the day (Althea is laughing hysterically thinking of the differences in scale we have between Evelyn's and Sylvia's difficult times...) are when Evelyn is eating. At nearly every meal she gets fussy (maybe frustrated? with us?) at least briefy and we distract her by using the sign for water (and giving her water from a cup) or by putting her food in a dish of brewer's yeast for her to fish out. We often wonder if she has to use the potty since she almost invariably pees during her meals. But really, who wants to take off the tray, wipe the baby down, take off the bibs, remove the clothes, hustle over to the potty and wait to see if pottying was the source of the fuss?!
Now that Evelyn has learned that she can tell us she wants more of something, she has used that sign at every meal. it doesn't hurt that most of her meals have involved blueberries or mangoes in the past three days:) And she does it with such character. She'll do the more sign and then clap, as if to say, "I'm amazing! I just said 'more!'" Just tonight she started fussing when she ran out of blueberries and when I asked her if she wanted more she became very thoughtful for a few moments, did the sign for more a few times and then clapped. It was so adorable...all 10 or 15 times she did it.
A mom who was nursing her second child told me last fall that it wasn't worth teaching a baby signs since they only really use them for a few months before they start to speak anyway...I was so disapointed in my heart to think that moms in-the-know think signs are a waste of time, but I decided we should do signs anyway. And, I'm so glad I did. Just the past three days have been amazing. The pleasure Evelyn gets from communicating, the break-through in understanding her fussiness at dinner, both of these things are so worth the absolutely minor effort we've exerted in teaching her signs!
Now we have to get that signing book and DVD out (thanks, Ben!) to refresh ourselves on the signs while Evie is so receptive!
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