If how often she makes loud noises is any indication, Del really loves the way she sounds! She babbles away while she's bouncing at her window sill, surveying the street below. She screeches unbelievably high and loud as she run-crawls through our wooden hallways, bringing to mind the imagined ear-splitting call of flying dinosaurs. She grunts and squeals as she plays with piles of tupperware containers. She is having as much fun discovering her voice and the sounds she can make with it as she is learning about the power of language emerging at her very fingertips.
Del has turned a fun corner in her growth. Aside from being ginormous (97th percentile for height!) and movin' and groovin' right along, she also seems so much more here now. She seems so in tune with who and what is around her, and interacts with her environment, people, animals, and toys with so much interest and excitement. I was watching her face yesterday as I was reading a book to her, and she was really looking at the simple colorful drawings as we came to each new page. She would watch my finger as I read along with the text on the page, then she would look at the drawing and just smile! She has loved books for a long time but now she will sometimes sit for a whole story (we're talking ten page board books of course) and helps turn the pages. The only problem arises when she wants to start chewing on the books and I have to remind her that books are for reading, not eating. (but mom, they're so delicious!)
She really digs a great game of peek-a-boo and will initiate silly little games on her own by squatting to hide behind the coffee table and then popping up so me and Daddy F can see her (which is typically met with lots of claps and "yay!" and big smiles from us). The best is when she doesn't squat enough to hide from view but gets just as excited when she "surprises" us by popping up. That's another activity during which Del might choose to squeal. . .just for squealing's sake.
Time goes waytoofast when you're watching tiny floppy-headed, chicken-boned babies grow into toothy-grinning, almost-walking, chubby-wristed little people. The fact that Del can use a sign to communicate a need to me (i.e., "milk" to communicate "feed me now!") is amazing to me. Not only is it a big step in her linguistic growth, but it also starts Del and I on a brand new road together where she can now advocate for herself. This means that I no longer have to guess 100% of the time what her needs are. This is when she starts to really discover the World and what she thinks about it.
Language-wise, Del seems more in tune with the signing and talking around her, and has started to be more expressive with both modalities. She added "book" and another two-handed symmetrical sign to her list this past week. Her version of "book" is to clap her hands together then apart with palms facing up. We're still deciphering a few others that are emerging. Del loves to talk to us and will take several conversational turns when hand-babbling and during "fake" conversations with me. She'll make some silly noise or babble and I copy her. This goes back and forth for a bit, depending on how interested Del is. Earlier today we went back and forth seven times before Del got tired of me and starting picking at the threads in a throw rug.
It's interesting for me (and probably unbelievable to those who know me well) that I sometime have to remind myself to talk to Del. Not that I don't interact with her constantly, but because our home language is ASL, I get used to quiet and sign with Del when Daddy F is around. I make sure to do all the suggested language modeling with her and talk to her as I go about my daily business, but it has taken some getting used to because I feel like I'm talking to myself. Now that she is vocalizing more, our conversations don't feel so one-sided, and her pure enjoyment of her voice reminds me to be diligent and encourage her.
Please enjoy the videos. I apologize to any Deaf or HOH readers about the lack of captions. I haven't figured out YouTube's captioning tool. If anyone is skilled with this and would like to teach me how, I would be very grateful.
This first video is a montage of Del's vocal play and babbling (that I have been able to capture!). In the first two segments, she is squealing and grunting; in the third and fourth she is babbling.
This second video is a set of clips that give some insight into Del's manual language development. We believe the signs captured here are Del's version of the signs "more," "milk," and "change."
Daddy F and I are off to enjoy a Sunday afternoon date together in honor of his (gasp!) 30th birthday. I hope you all find something to celebrate today (and every day!)
Toodle-oo
Del has turned a fun corner in her growth. Aside from being ginormous (97th percentile for height!) and movin' and groovin' right along, she also seems so much more here now. She seems so in tune with who and what is around her, and interacts with her environment, people, animals, and toys with so much interest and excitement. I was watching her face yesterday as I was reading a book to her, and she was really looking at the simple colorful drawings as we came to each new page. She would watch my finger as I read along with the text on the page, then she would look at the drawing and just smile! She has loved books for a long time but now she will sometimes sit for a whole story (we're talking ten page board books of course) and helps turn the pages. The only problem arises when she wants to start chewing on the books and I have to remind her that books are for reading, not eating. (but mom, they're so delicious!)
She really digs a great game of peek-a-boo and will initiate silly little games on her own by squatting to hide behind the coffee table and then popping up so me and Daddy F can see her (which is typically met with lots of claps and "yay!" and big smiles from us). The best is when she doesn't squat enough to hide from view but gets just as excited when she "surprises" us by popping up. That's another activity during which Del might choose to squeal. . .just for squealing's sake.
Time goes waytoofast when you're watching tiny floppy-headed, chicken-boned babies grow into toothy-grinning, almost-walking, chubby-wristed little people. The fact that Del can use a sign to communicate a need to me (i.e., "milk" to communicate "feed me now!") is amazing to me. Not only is it a big step in her linguistic growth, but it also starts Del and I on a brand new road together where she can now advocate for herself. This means that I no longer have to guess 100% of the time what her needs are. This is when she starts to really discover the World and what she thinks about it.
Language-wise, Del seems more in tune with the signing and talking around her, and has started to be more expressive with both modalities. She added "book" and another two-handed symmetrical sign to her list this past week. Her version of "book" is to clap her hands together then apart with palms facing up. We're still deciphering a few others that are emerging. Del loves to talk to us and will take several conversational turns when hand-babbling and during "fake" conversations with me. She'll make some silly noise or babble and I copy her. This goes back and forth for a bit, depending on how interested Del is. Earlier today we went back and forth seven times before Del got tired of me and starting picking at the threads in a throw rug.
It's interesting for me (and probably unbelievable to those who know me well) that I sometime have to remind myself to talk to Del. Not that I don't interact with her constantly, but because our home language is ASL, I get used to quiet and sign with Del when Daddy F is around. I make sure to do all the suggested language modeling with her and talk to her as I go about my daily business, but it has taken some getting used to because I feel like I'm talking to myself. Now that she is vocalizing more, our conversations don't feel so one-sided, and her pure enjoyment of her voice reminds me to be diligent and encourage her.
Please enjoy the videos. I apologize to any Deaf or HOH readers about the lack of captions. I haven't figured out YouTube's captioning tool. If anyone is skilled with this and would like to teach me how, I would be very grateful.
This first video is a montage of Del's vocal play and babbling (that I have been able to capture!). In the first two segments, she is squealing and grunting; in the third and fourth she is babbling.
This second video is a set of clips that give some insight into Del's manual language development. We believe the signs captured here are Del's version of the signs "more," "milk," and "change."
Daddy F and I are off to enjoy a Sunday afternoon date together in honor of his (gasp!) 30th birthday. I hope you all find something to celebrate today (and every day!)
Toodle-oo
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