February 4th
I can't believe I haven't mentioned this before. At least I don't think I have... and if so... oh well. :P Jacob's first true word - associating the word with the person/thing - was... Ma-Ma. Even though Dave has been a stay-at-home dad ever since I had to return to work following my maternity leave, Jacob figured out how to refer to me by "name" first. It was right around Thanksgiving and was so cute at first, but then it morphed into him ONLY doing it in a whiny-cry whenever I would leave the room or walked past him to go prepare his bottle or food.
"Maaaa-ma ma-ma ma-ma ma-maaa!!!!!"
A few days before Christmas, he finally started saying "Da-da" in context. And then my name disappeared! The funny thing, though, was how intentional it seemed to be on his part. If we were playing or having a meal together (just Jakey and me), he would say "Da-da". I would remind him that Daddy had gone bye-bye or was sleeping or whatever and then prompted him - "But Mommy's right here. Can you say Ma-ma?" Then he would look at me with the most devilish grin and say, "Da-DA!" He never whined for Dave like he had done for me, though. And whenever I would walk past him to prepare his bottle at this point, he would just cry and chase after me without any words. :P
My name finally came back a few weeks ago. I've been starting to try to teach him to call for one of us when he needs help with something instead of fussing or crying about it. We've gone from me saying, "It's okay. You need help. Say 'Ma-ma' or 'Da-da'." to "You need help. What do you say?" And now he'll respond with an oh-so-cute "Mum-ma". I've been signing "help" when I say it and trying to help him form his hands into the sign. It might be a while for that, but we're working on it.
When Jacob was about five or six months, I started trying to teach him some simple sign language. There's a class called Baby Signs offered through the park district, but they want $100 and the classes are during times when he would usually be taking a nap anyway. With all of the kids who I've worked with over the years, I know a good handful of ASL signs already. It's mainly just a matter of teaching myself more and introducing them to him in context. For example - signing "milk" as I'm giving him his bottle, signing "more" when I'm giving him more food, or "eat" when we first sit down for a meal.
He's finally picked up on the sign for "more". I've been working on that one with him (along with "milk" and "Mommy") since he was about six months old. He was always too busy crying or grabbing for his bottle or spoon or too focused on something else to pay attention to what my hands and fingers were doing. He started clapping as an approximation for "more" about a month or so ago. I praised him for it and encouraged it since it's pretty close. I think he's really starting to pay attention to my signing more now, though, and is starting to pick up on the fact that it means something when I make certain motions with them. A few days ago, I watched him as he looked out the back door and then down at his own fingers making a perfect "more" sign. "Are you practicing "more"? Good job, Jacob!" It seems that he does it more precisely when he's just playing around than when he's intentionally trying to do it for more food or more playing or whatever. Maybe he has a case of performance anxiety? ;P
I'm working on a few other signs as well - done/finished, daddy, ball, help, and cat - and should probably start introducing a few more (dog, bath, eat, banana, sleep/bed). Now that he seems to be paying more attention, maybe things will start zipping right along. That's I'm hoping, anyway. :)
March 3rd
It's amazing how fast babies learn at this age! Just since my post above, Jacob's picked up on several signs! He now knows/does MORE, EAT, BINKY (pacifier), DOG, HURT, ALL DONE/FINISHED, PLEASE, HAT, and MILK. I'm teaching them to Dave, too, so that he knows what Jakey's trying to communicate when he's at home with him alone during the day. He's picking up on them fairly quickly, too. ;P I've been working on several others, so hopefully he'll have a few more "words" within the next month or so - book, star, flower, apple, orange, juice, water, music, dance, ball, cat, help, work, and drive/car. I've been doing Mommy and Daddy since six months, too, but he doesn't seem to care about mimicking those signs since he can verbalize them.
It's so incredible watching him sign to tell us what he wants or what he's thinking about or wants us to talk about. I've always known that I would try signing with my baby if I ever had one, but seeing how all of my efforts are paying off with my OWN child is just so amazing and heartwarming. I was worried for a while that he'd never pick up on any of it, but he just needed a little more time. He's like a little sponge right now and is watching everything we do. He looks at me sometimes as if he's waiting for me to show him the sign for everything... but I have a lot more to learn! In the meantime, the pointing thing is good. At least he can direct our gaze in the general vicinity of what he wants or wants to see or talk about. :P
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