Signing With Your Baby: The Signing Toddler - by Monica Beyer

My son Corbin is almost 22 months old and has been signing for 11 months. While he is learning to talk, he still signs much of the time and it has really given me insight into his rapidly developing personality.

I can really see Corbin's sense of humor emerging when he sees something he thinks is funny and he will say or sign it and laugh.

He'll purposefully knock over his glass of milk and say, "Uh-oh," while signing "milk." He also loves to put things on his milk or juice glass (like a toy) and sign "milk" or "juice" and laugh. He tries to get my attention so I'll think it's funny too.

My favorite story involves the "milk" sign too. He weaned himself at the age of 20 months and probably still remembers nursing. One day he spotted my bra lying on the floor and grabbed it up. I thought he would maybe pretend to wear it, but what he did was much funnier than that. He put the bra on his head, signed "milk," and laughed uncontrollably. It was so funny!

While he is now learning to put two spoken words together, he's been putting two and three signs together for months. He'll sign "mama" and "rain" if he wants me to look out the window and see it raining. He'll sign "cloud" and "bye-bye" if he sees the cloud on Teletubbies going away.

What is sad is to see some of his signs disappearing as he learns to say the words. For a long time, he would both sign and say "mama" and "dada." Now he rarely uses either sign, but I still use them on occasion to remind him of those signs.

I definitely don't plan on stopping signing with Corbin any time soon. He is still eager to learn more signs and learning words right and left. I'm so glad I sign with Corbin because I feel it has really opened up a world of communication that wouldn't be there if we hadn't signed.

About the Author

Monica Beyer is the mother of two sons and has been signing with her younger son for over 1 year. Visit her website at http://www.signingbaby.com or email her at monica@signingbaby.com

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A baby is a blank cheque made payable to the human race. -Barbara Christine Seifert

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