Hey Baby What's Your Sign?

Pre Caleb mommy was totally captivated by this story she saw on TV of a 17 month old girl who was already reading! The parents of the child (both speech pathologists) credited her amazing ability to extremely well developed visual perception and memory, but also to sign language. Of course, being the uber competitive person that mommy is, she immediately thought, "Hey, if they can do it, then I can do it," so she started buying books and reading up on the benefits of teaching children sign language. Briefly, for those who are interested, some of these benefits include; that it makes learning to talk easier, boosts self-esteem, and stimulates intellectual development. Studies show that children who sign as babies have significantly higher IQ's than children who do not sign.

Now, dream sequence to the day Caleb's was born where mommy and daddy sit hovering over him performing our newly learned signs. From day one we made sure to sign to him whenever we spoke.* At first it seemed silly, and of course he wasn't signing back, but we stuck with it and right before his first birthday Caleb picked it up...and fast. His first sign was 'milk' (obviously one we did a lot) and since then he has taken off. He communicates with us via sign language all the time. And it hasn't delayed his verbal communication as some critics of baby sign language believe. Caleb speaks ALL THE TIME, even when he's signing. He can speak; Dada, Mama, Lala, ball, duck, hot, bath, cheese, hi, bye-bye, nana (banana), uh-oh, and (our favorite) Matty - his very first friend, and his sign language vocabulary grows everyday. We can't tell you how nice it is to have him 'tell' us what he wants instead of just cry and point. Here's a little sample of what our guy is capable of:

Impressive huh? He's just a baby so his hand dexterity isn't the greatest which makes some of the signs look similar (milk and duck, pig and juice) but all in all he's picking it up quickly and we are very pleased with his progress. We will be sure to report back if the study proves true and he ends up with a higher IQ than most kids his age.**
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* One of Caleb's parents was far more disciplined in this endeavor than the other. We'll let you guess which parent dropped the ball...

** Results may be skewed however because you have to take into account the fact that he comes from two exceptionally bright parents. :)