Animal Noises!

(many thanks  to Sandra Boyton for writing one of our favorite books: Moo, Baa, La La La).

And a mad sprint to catch all of us up to the present!

Hello!

So much has changed in our lives since I last shared with you. In the last months, we have uprooted Del from her first home wedged between Mexico, the Pacific Ocean, and vast desert, and transplanted her at the meeting place of the Great Plains and the rockin' Rocky Mountains. It's been a heck of a time, and all signs point to "yes!" we absolutely made the right choice.

And of course, in the meantime, Del has continued to grow and astound us. She's now a week shy of 18 months old, and is growing into an incredibly affectionate, silly, curious, active and LOUD child! Despite her skills with signing, this little lady LOVES to yell and make loud noises, and she definitely celebrates the wonderful and delicious (and shocked!) reactions she gets out of people when she lets loose with one of her trademark screeches.

As far as her language, all I can say is that it has absolutely exploded. Her sign vocabulary grows by two or more signs every day. Del will look for something in her environment or in a book that she doesn't yet know the sign to, and she'll ask for the sign. It only takes one exposure for her to try it out herself and to commit it to memory (see fast mapping from a previous post); she will also now watch us carefully and correct her production in some ways to more closely approximate the correct ASL sign.

As a hearing mother of a hearing child who signs, I often am asked, "does she talk?" The assumption many people have is that if she can sign, she has little motivation to use her voice. But the reality that I've witnessed with Del so far is that she is talking more than I expected at this age, and that her signing seems to encourage her to use her voice. The way I understand it, she has learned the concept of language and the power of communication with ASL. She understands that a sign represents a thing, and that if she signs that thing - "JUICE," for example - she will likely be rewarded with her desired treat. Having that knowledge with sign, she can then somewhat easily make the jump to recognize that spoken words have the same function as signs. Her mind seems to grasp the concept that more language means more ways to ask for stuff and get what she wants! Lately is seems Del tries to vocalize with most of her signs, and it's been fun trying to keep track of all the new words she's added in the last month or so. 

ASL
I will probably miss quite a few, but here are most of the signs that Del knows to date. Some might be repeats from previous posts; between moving, starting new jobs, and not having a laptop to work on (until yesterday!), it's been pretty impossible for me to keep detailed logs!

in absolutely NO particular order:
towel
train
paint
ambulance
airplane
shower
ball
car
drive
bear
frog
rabbit
deer
octopus
bug
caterpillar
bee
butterfly
pig
banana
peach
plum (proto-fingerspelling)
grapes
orange
work
bread
peanut butter (first compound)
chair
sit
food
eat
hungry
tired
beer
elephant
owl
giraffe
thirsty
horse
rooster
open
pickle
ride bike
mine
time
clock
park (first proto-fingerspelling)
apple
hat
Del (her namesign)
upstairs
up
stuck
grass
moon
pants
shirt
socks
boots
diaper
change
cry
laugh
sleep
glasses
lotion
shoes
sandals
coat
sheep
rain
table
home
outside
please
penguin
cat
cold
bark
shh
washing machine
cell phone
motorcycle
goat
shy
boat
soon
pillow
potty
pee
poop
bath
pizza
spicy
hurt
squirrel
light off
light on
want
crabby
monkey
tiger
lion
zebra
snake
pasta
smoothie
spin
walk
stroller
strawberry
play
dance
music
brush
toothbrush
fork
spoon
spider
whale
elbow
flower
knee
nose
teeth
ear
mouth
cheek
chin
hands
feet
belly button
vagina
penis
hair
butt
string
heart
umbrella
ice cream
juice
give (me)
share
dress
silly
delicious
kiss-fist

SIGN COMBINATIONS
brush teeth
brush hair
airplane flying
daddy driving
mommy driving
mommy work
daddy work
mommy sit
daddy sit
you sit there
daddy sleep
mommy sleep
baby sleep
my chair
more pasta
more pizza
pizza spicy

ENGLISH
Del has added a lot of new words just in the last couple of weeks. I haven't tried to put a number to them, but she's jumped from maybe 3-5 words to over 25 in such a short amount of time! Some of her words are (in no particular order):
mama
dada
dog
ball
bike
hot
chalk
socks
pants
please
cheese
shh
motorcycle
open
up
milk
more
bear
bug
bee
beer
stuck
eye
park
juice
water
chair
pasta
spicy

Del says the "noises" for dogs, monkeys, lions and sheep. She loves to be outside in any weather, and to color and spin in circles and dance to bluegrass music. She is extremely sensitive, and will sign CRY and make a sad face when she sees an injured grasshopper and asks for tape to fix broken crayons. Her ability to communicate so much to us has opened my eyes to the vast world that is the developing mind of a young child. I am so humbled in the presence of such raw curiosity!

To bed with me. . . I will post videos and pictures this weekend, because I finally have all of my data on one trusty and backed-up computer, so no more technological excuses!

Good night to you. My thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives were affected by the events that took place on this day, September 11th, 10 short years ago.

Signing in the Park and Moon

Hi there. Here are the videos I am always promising! 

 

Time Warp

Good afternoon! From where I sit, there are two fluffy white clouds floating in a picture-book blue sky, with a few rooftops, palm and eucalyptus trees scattered about. I can't see the traffic on the busy street two houses away, but i can hear buses and cars passing, as well as the ubiquitous sirens off in the distance of downtown. Inside it's quiet; both Del and Daddy F are napping. Boxes and random "to-be-packed" items crowd the room in which I sit. It's an interesting feeling, living in limbo. There is a buzzing of excitement about all the new and unknown heading our way, while concurrently we are busy and exhausted packing our lives away and attempting to see "everything" before we depart. There is never, ever enough time to do it all. But that is okay. It provides me the opportunity to re-evaluate my priorities. I strive to strike a balance that will indeed get us through this massive transition, but with less stress, fewer meltdowns (mine, not Del's), and more adventure.

Speaking of adventure, what could be more adventurous than a blog about language!? Let's get down to it, shall we?

ENGLISH
For the "official" record, Del is 15 months tomorrow. All of the new information has been acquired since my last post on May 30th. What this translates to for me is astonishment that there is far too much to share here from the few short weeks since I last wrote. The speed at which the earth turns round the sun while watching your child grow, lordy! And I digress (as usual). . .

Del still babbles in conversational style, and lately engages in a lot of mimicry. She likes to copy me as I play around with different consonant and vowel combinations, and she loves to sing. She really enjoys the velar sounds /k/ and /g/ lately, and discovered /p/ a few days ago as we popped bubbles in the bath. She still greets the world with her exuberant "hi!" and she approximates the name of Neighbor Baby and has said a word that sounds very close to "cow" several times while playing with her magnet barnyard animals. She follows two step commands consistently, and sometimes follows three-step commands (without me also simultaneously signing) such as "Del, go over to the couch, get Grinch, and bring him to Daddy." She can identify over fifty animals and objects in English, which she shows by pointing to pictures or signing what I say. Her receptive skills in English seem to have caught up to her ASL, but her expressive skills in ASL blow the few verbal words she has out of the park. Let's talk more about that.

ASL
I believe Del has entered what some people refer to as the fast-mapping part of her ASL acquisition. A theory of cognitive psychology, fast-mapping describes when a child needs only one receptive exposure to a symbol (be it a word or a sign) to memorize it, integrate it, and then use it expressively. It has happened countless times in the last week or two when Del signs something (such as "clock" or "walrus") that neither of us recall overtly teaching to her. She is picking up on so much and storing the information so quickly, that when she uses signs to show us what she knows, she's already five steps ahead of us! This theory of fast-mapping applies to language acquisition in young native speakers of any language, and generally tries to account for the massive explosion of vocabulary in children as they learn to communicate. For spoken languages, this tends to occur roughly between 18 months and somewhere between 2-3 years of age (see here for information and research on fast mapping).

Signs added in the last couple of weeks:
 - cell phone: open B hand to ear with "ba ba ba" vocalizations
 - watermelon: one hand tapped on opposite back of hand
 - shhh: one finger aside the nose
 - girl: open B against chin repeatedly
 - caterpillar: alternate between one and X finger (correct production)
 - sirens: open/close all fingers on both hands (correct production)
 - pizza: open B against mouth
 - outside: open/close all fingers one hand (correct production)
 - work: S hand on opposite wrist (correct production)
 - time: one hand on opposite wrist (correct production)
 - pasta sauce: one hand twisted against cheek (same sign as for applesauce!)
 - walrus: two open B hands, fingers against mouth then away
 - hot: open 5 hand at mouth then away
 - show me: one hand with finger in middle of opposite palm, both hands coming towards body

Del's signs for "mom" and "dad" are now signed correctly, with open 5 hands at the chin and forehead, respectively. She mouths "mom" when she signs it, but doesn't yet say it consistently.

Caught in the act

Well hello there.

Today is Memorial Day and a day of perfectly American contradictions. The celebration of a day free from work and obligation, and families gathering for picnics under the sun is supposed to be about a day of remembrance for all the soldiers lost and injured in the wars of our country. Even here, in our heavily militarized and armed-forces-supporting city of San Diego, Memorial Day is called the "unofficial start of summer," when hordes of people start their yearly pilgrimage to our famous beaches. Hardly the grandiose remembrance our fallen soldiers likely imagined receiving.

I feel a tide of change coming fast and strong in our family, and we are doing our best to prepare little by little, day by day. Soon we will head to the mountains and claim a new home for ourselves; it seems yet another birthday of mine is rife with the major changes that are peppered throughout my life. I've spent two birthdays on airplanes (one coming home from months in Ghana), and another in Buenos Aires, two days before boarding a plane back stateside after five months abroad. Change is inevitable. Change is good. Change is what keeps our lives exciting and alive. But change is a lot of work, especially with a curious, fast, and impish toddler imprinting the process with her gigantic presence.

Speaking of that toddler, here are a few recent-ish videos of Del signing. I've combined them together for a quick montage, and. . .(drum roll please) I finally figured out a simple way to add text to the videos! For someone as technologically challenged as myself, I'm pretty proud of this accomplishment. To view them, you need a browser that is NOT Firefox, and you will need to watch the video in YouTube instead of imbedded here.

Along the lines of the videos, Del has added yet more words to her ASL vocabulary. In a nutshell, here are what I recall off the top of my head: baby, horse, sheep, deer, cow, frog, cool, strawberry, brush, fish, airplane, car, dance/music, hear

My current favorite sign is for "flower," which she produces with a "1" handshape, fingertip firmly INSIDE of her nose, and with a rotation of the wrist. She makes location and handshape errors sometimes, and still gets some categories a little confused. She's trying to make sense of the subtle differences between dogs and cats, and continues to insist that chihuahuas are cats, no matter how many times we tell her otherwise.

In English, Del now has four words and one animal sound. She says "hi," "dada," "mama," (rare) "bye bye" and "oooo" (moo). She says "oooo" for horses and cows so we still have some kinks to work out. She understands most two step commands in English as well as ASL now, and continues to surprise me with the depth of her comprehension. I love how her ASL usage gives me better insight into her understanding of what goes on around her, and reinforces the idea that children are much, MUCH smarter than most of us tend to give them credit for.

Enjoy the videos, and as always, I openly encourage you to share your thoughts!

Del adds "mama" to BOTH her languages!

Hallelujah! At long last "mama" has crossed the lips of my dear child, and a sign has emerged to refer to me that does not look exactly like "milk." The sign came a few days ago in the form of a "1" sign produced around the cheek/jaw area. Del said "mama" for the first time just today ("today" was April 27th) while holding her arms for me to pick her up. I started celebrating like a fool but couldn't help it; there's just something magical about your baby calling you mama for the very first time.

I've gone through and made some lists and organized things a bit so they make more sense from a developmental point of view. I've categorized Del's ASL signs to date by handshape as much as possible so that it's easier to see the correlation between her fine motor development and her manual language bursts. Typically, the first handshape babies use when learning ASL is the "open hand" or "5 hand." This handshape can be manipulated as soon as the child is able to extend the fingers open from the palm.

Although it's not clear if motor development always drives language development or vice versa with respect to manual language learners (although I'm inclined to believe it works both ways, as with most things in this world), it's pretty simple to see that when babies start to use their hands to talk, the (proto-)signs used do not require a great deal of skill. As the signing child improves her nonlinguistic dexterity (for example, extending an index finger from a closed fist to perhaps pick a nostril), the handshapes that start to emerge for signing are naturally derived from these new and more complex physical abilities.

In that line of thinking, something that I am very curious about is whether children who sign tend to have accelerated fine motor development. For example, I wonder if children who are born into signing families master a motor milestone such as the pincer grasp sooner than children who learn only spoken languages. For a signing child, the motivation for such developments is doubled, meaning: the pincer grasp, in addition to being an excellent blueberry-nabbing tool, is also a linguistic handshape for many useful signs in ASL (a.k.a. the "G" handshape).

Now, back to the matter "at hand" (so to speak). . .

Del's ASL as of April 27th, 2011 (13 months, 11 days)

"5"

"hi" "please" "tree" "cheese" "more(2)" "thank you" "bye-bye" "want(1)" "finish (all done)" "don't want" "sleep(2)" "high-five!"

"Open A"

"milk"

"1"

"daddy" "mommy" "water" "where?" "what's that? (pointing)" "sleep(1)" "more(1)"

"G"

"more(3)" "birdie" "pick up" 

 "Curved Hand"

"share" "change" 

 "Claw 5"

"basketball" "ball" "want(2)"

 "Flat B"

"doggie"

The words with numbers next to them indicate either two different variations on a sign, or a sign that uses two different handshapes (such as "1" pointed into the palm of "5" to indicate "more," compared with two "G" handshapes meeting at the fingertips for the same meaning). The handshapes are produced in different locations with various different movements for the words listed. Some of her handshapes are not precise yet, such as her "claw 5," which is produced with slightly less "clawing" than seen in the photo above. However, the 6 handshapes that she uses so far are visually distinct from one-another, and are used consistently to communicate a surprising variety of words (26!!).  There are a couple Del-invented signs that cannot be described simply, such as "poop" and "don't want." I will do my best to capture these more intricate Del-isms on video to share what they look like.

Del continues to link two signs together in multiple different ways, typically with "more (insert food or drink)" or "where (mommy/daddy/milk)?" She uses the head shake "no" as a linguistic tool, for example pointing to the fridge for me to open it and then waiting as I list things inside as she either points and smiles to indicate, "that's what I want!" or shakes her head no. My favorite new development is when we ask Del if she is ready to go to sleep. She will either shake her head no or point to the bedroom and sign "sleep." This has alleviated so much nap-time and bedtime drama in recent weeks, and the pure fact that she has a role in the decision seems to make her that much more eager to drift off to la-la land.

Speaking of la-la land, that's where I am heading! Until next time, happy signing/talking/singing/sharing/speaking/listening/loving! Good night.

Apple doesn't fall far. .

. . .from the cheesehead tree.

Meaning? Del is also signing "cheese" these days. What kind? Wisconsin cheddar, of course! She would eat cheese and nothing but all day if we let her.

Del's sign for cheese is a one hand open palm rotated left and right. This handshape and similar movement, but with various different locations, is also used by Del for "tree," "all-done" (both hands), "change," "hi," and "book" (both hands). I notice that Del will have a rapid increase in signs when she learns a new handshape. I assume this is because she starts to apply that handshape to all the different words she wants to communicate that can be made with her new skill. With that line of thinking, I have tried to get Del to sign "orange," which is the same handshape and movement as "milk" but is produced at the chin. No luck with that one just yet, but as citrus season gets underway she'll have more motivation!

She said WHAT?!?!

Happy Friday to you. Or rather, happy Friday to me. I really have no idea what day it is for you. And if it's Monday and you just got to work and are futzing around on the computer instead of being productive, well - happy Monday to you.

Let's get down to it, shall we?

ENGLISH UPDATES
I admit I really like that Del's first word is "hi." It resonates with the strength and ease of her social nature. Her second word, "da-da," makes perfect sense in that it represents her powerful connection with her Daddy F, a part-time stay-at-home daddy who is beyond devoted and attentive to his mini person. So now for her third word (drum roll please). . . "no!" I think this indicative of her strong and willful spirit, and her excellent communication skills. She said it to me this evening when I was trying to distract her from the hot oven with a cupboard full of tupperware. She (standing, about even height with the top of the cupboard door) grabbed the door as I opened it, looked me square in the eye, shook her head and said, "nuh," and closed the door. Simple as that, she gains the upper hand. How can I argue with such a clear message? No tupperware for me, lady. Move along. She also started saying something very similar to "where?" while playing her favorite game of object hide-and-seek. It sounds more like "oooooooweh?" but she says it while signing "where?" so the meaning is apparent.


ASL UPDATES
Del has started using a lot more signs since my last post. She signs please, thank you, mommy, daddy, where?, tree, pain, food, fan, book. She will point to something and basically "ask" us to label it for her. She usually tries to copy the sign right away, but it takes some time for her to start using new signs on her own. She has started to put two signs together, always with "where?" as the first sign. Daddy F has played hide-and-seek with Del and her toys for months now, and "where?" has become her favorite game, to the point that she will hide things and come ask US where they are! We have seen her sign both "where da-da?" and "where dog?" after a family member's dog "disappeared" from the VP!

(Del signs "more", then "please" with an index finger rotated on her chest which she then corrects to an open hand circled on the chest, then "all-done" at the end of the video)

Her receptive language is also more advanced in ASL, which is not suprising considering she has two adult ASL models in the home and only one English language model. Earlier today I got home from work and Del was a bit frantic to nurse (yes, I'm still breastfeeding. No, she shows no signs of weaning). I told her, while changing out of my grubby hospital scrubs, that we would go outside and swing on the hammock to nurse. She kept hollering at me then I turned to her and signed (paraphrasing here): "outside soon for milk. milk outside in hammock." She calmed down as soon as I signed that to her and waiting for me to finish getting ready. 

Del seems to have tuned in to Daddy F's deafness, and will wave to him mostly instead of saying "hi." She waves to get his attention now, too, and I've caught her just sitting and waiting for him to turn and catch her eye instead of shrieking for his attention like she does with me! I'm getting better about not jumping every time she screams, and have become more adept at giving her the language she wants to diffuse the mini-meltdown that happens when she can't communicate her wants/needs. It's definitely not a fun stage, but I realize that it's short lived, and I already see that she is using far more signs than screams in recent days. Hallelujah ASL, or this stage would likely last a lot longer!

See you all soon, and thanks for stopping by!

One!

Hello hello! It feels nice to sit down and write. This past month has kept me very busy with the usual part-time job and part-time staying at home with Del, in addition to family visiting, Del's first birthday, and all that goes into the beginning phases of planning a move halfway across the country. A lot has been said and done since our last chat; it seems little Del has morphed from a babe into a toddler in a terribly short amount of time.

Along with the rapid growth in her height (32 1/2 inches!) have come additions to both of her languages; she has introduced several more signs in the last month, and her first (and second!) word showed up just days before her birthday! True to her social nature and open-minded little soul, Del's very first word was "hi!" Since waving was her first manual "sign," I guess it's safe to say that she's a friendly little gal! "Hi!" was followed very closely by "da-da," which she now says when she points to Daddy F, making her intentions clear. She says hi and waves all of the time now: when I get home from work; when we walk into a restaurant and see another baby; when we go downstairs to visit the neighbors; on a walk passing strangers: greeting is her thing. 

Her babbling has become more speech-like, in that she plays around a lot more with intonation and turn-taking. As far as what sounds she is making, she still sticks with mostly /b, d, g, m, h, j, w/. She still prefers /d/ out of all her sounds, but started saying "goo-goo" the other day. I found this pretty hilarious considering that "goo-goo" strikes me as something that cartoon babies say, and Del is clearly no cartoon. She is pretty funny, however. With all of their unfettered learning and exploration and silly enjoyment of life, our children constantly remind us how wonderful it is to just laugh in the face of it all. Goo-goo. 

Signs that Del has newly introduced into her ASL lexicon, or mental dictionary, are "no" (head shaken firmly and slowly back and forth), "hi" (signed correctly, with an open B index finger against the forehead), "doggie" (patting her thigh with an open B handshape), "da-da" (her version is hitting an open five handshape twice against her forehead), "grandma" (open five handshape with palm to chin), and pointing. Pointing is by far Del's favorite thing in the world right now. When she wakes up from nap, she points to the hall. When we get to the hall, she points to the back den. Once there, she points outside. She points her way to sunshine and fresh air in stages, smiling and so sure of each point as she thrusts her arm proudly forward with tiny index finger extended; unwavering. Wouldn't it be grand if we all had such trust in the decisions we make each day!

She continues to sign "milk," "more," "change," "poop" and has stopped signing "banana." Her sign for "more" has become more refined, with two G handshapes coming together at the fingertips and palms facing inward (refer to handshape charts in previous posts for images). There is a sign she uses a lot that we haven't deciphered. She typically uses it when sitting at the table while eating. She grabs her left wrist with her right hand and opens and closes her left hand. Any ideas out there?? I thought it was a modified version of "poop" but she still signs poop her other way so that doesn't seem right.

Del has not yet signed or said "mama" so I just pretend that her signing "milk" is a term of endearment something along the lines of, "that nice lady with the milk." I'm just happy she's chattering away and moving those tiny fingers and hands in meaningful ways. I am in constant awe of her - of all children. I would give anything to be able to simply absorb the information around me like they do (like we used to!); learning takes true effort as an adult!

Del and neighbor Baby (born on the same day; our "same day twins") have wonderful conversations now, taking turns and mimicking the tone and pitch of each-others voices. They greet each other both verbally and physically, Del saying "hi!" and neighbor Baby hugging and kissing. Neighbor Baby - who is walking - walked over to Del the other evening, who was sitting on the floor. Neighbor Baby squatted a little and leaned over to kiss Del on the nose. Del just sat there with her face turned up a little as neighbor Baby kissed her two more times. It was the most precious and ridiculously adorable thing I have ever witnessed. Two seconds later neighbor Mama grabbed the video camera from the kitchen counter and said, "Do it again, ladies!" Alas, this is why we must keep our memories sharp; to remember them, then.

And so a year has come and gone (intheblinkofaneye), and Del's language is such that she:

ASL
 - uses roughly seven different signs on any given day to communicate basic wants and needs.
 - watches ASL conversations intently, switching attention to the next speaker in anticipation of his or her turn
 - waves hello to everyone she meets
 - points and shakes head "no" to indicate her preference for food, parent, direction, toy, or game.
 - plays "hide-and-seek" with Daddy F, following his signed directions for "wait," "where?", "look," "find," "bring," and "give."
 - responds to family on VP with excitement and glee, indicating she understands not only that she is talking to the person on the TV, but who she is talking with.
 - "listens" to Daddy F when he talks to her, watching his face intently while he signs.
 

ENGLISH
 - calls out to her "da-da."
 - says "hi" to everyone and anyone who crosses her path.
 - engages in "conversation" with her parents, neighbor Baby, neighbor Mama and Dada, and strangers
 - sings, babbles, squeals and hollers for the sheer fun of her voice.
 - mimics (or attempts to mimic) both linguistic and non-linguistic sounds.
 - recognizes and listens when her name is called.
 - follows directions for "stop," "come here," "get down," "give," "bring," and "off" (I am ignoring the fact that she will soon learn how to defy all of this wonderful knowledge and outwit me at every turn).
 - picks specific favorite books or toys from a pile when instructed (i.e., "bring me Grinch!").

Videos to follow within the week!

P.S., I still haven't heard from any of you regarding your babies' language. What are any first signs, first words? These are great stories to share: honor us with a tiny snippet of you and your personal history!

Until next time, be well. And revel in the sunshine. . .Spring has sprung! Happy April to you all.

Shhh, she's listening (and watching!)

Good day to you. Or good evening. Whichever it may be for you, I hope you are enjoying your time. And I want to thank you for coming by to share in our stories. It is very much appreciated.

It has become abundantly clear in recent days how much Del is able to understand when we talk and sign to her. There are simple "commands" that we have practiced with her that she deciphers without any problem, such as knowing the difference between "give a hug," "give a kiss," and "give high five!" (although the last one is usually said with such exuberance and gusto that it likely isn't just the words that Del attends to but also the energy of the request). She is very tuned in to us when we are communicating with her, and is making constant attempts to let us know her needs with her voice and hands (even though most of the time we're still pretty clueless about what she's trying to say).

I have to preface this next little story with a piece of information. Del loves books. Love love loves them. She sits for entire (short) stories two or three times in a row, turning pages and clapping when she sees familiar drawings or characters she likes. Her absolute favorite book is Dinosaur Roar by Henrietta Stickland. I read the book to her with silly voices that match the dinosaurs in the book, roaring and squeaking in turn with the opening line, "Dinosaur ROOAAARRRR, dinosaur squeak." Lately, whenever I read it to her, she says "eek" along with me when I do the squeaky dinosaur voice.

So now the story: Two days ago I was doing the dishes and Del was playing at the base of her bookshelf, surrounded (as usual) by the mountain of books she had pulled down from the shelves. I was looking away from her when she made what could only be described as a "ROOAAARRRR" sound. I turned around and sure enough, she was holding Dinosaur Roar in her hand. I recited the first line for her and she squealed when I said "squeak!" and dropped the book on a pile of others to crawl over to me. I gave her a high five, and then told her to go get "ROAR!" I repeated the request again then pointed at her pile of books. She crawled over there and sat down, looking up at me. I asked her, "where is ROAR?" and she smiled, grabbed the book, and held it out for me so I could read it to her. (again).

Del's verbal play is filled with a lot of phonemic variety, volume control exercises, and pitch exploration. No first words just yet, and she is not yet consistently using canonical syllables, or syllables that both start and end with a consonant (marked as CVC, these are starting to pop up more frequently in her babbling). Her new favorite non-linguistic sound is to pucker her lips in a tight little "o" and blow air or hoot. This was very adorable and endearing until Del decided that it would be fun to try this trick with applesauce in her mouth. Oh, the joys of parenthood are never ending! So all in all, Del has keen interest in her voice and all that it can do for her, and is slowly and steadily progressing through the steps of early sound development.

ASL is where Del has made (relatively) large leaps lately. She has started to produce signs in locations other than neutral signing space such as on her face and chest. She uses so many different handshapes, various kinds of finger play (proto-fingerspelling?), and sign movements when she hand-babbles these days that we can't keep up with everything new she produces; it's a barrage of manual linguistic play every time she lifts her arms to share a thought with us. See the video below for a brief example of what this looks like (my apologies for the poor quality; I have to capture these moments incognito).

The fluid nature of both spoken and signed languages make it difficult at times to pick out discrete units such as individual phonemes or signs. Here Del transitions rapidly through several different signs, experimenting with the dexterity and linguistic creativity she is tapping into more and more each day.

Thanks for stopping by, and please share your thoughts, questions, comments. . .I know there are some of you reading out there who know so much about these topics and I am eager for your perspective and input. I'm also curious to know what piques your interests, and the kinds of things you wonder when you watch or listen as people communicate with one-another. Share, share, share! (pretty please)

High Five!

Del is addicted to high-fiving. She does it all day long, and shrieks with glee each and every time. She is, in fact, shrieking as I type this, playing in the other room with Daddy F. I don't remember how the high-five fanaticism started; I'm thinking it was Daddy F's doing as I tend towards the fist-bump in matters of casual hand-to-hand greetings. She's also doing this funky little belly crawl as she crawl-runs around the apartment, flopping flat onto her stomach from hands and knees with a "thwump" and a giggle. She likes to hug and loves to wrestle, and has serious height advantage when it comes to new-shelf exploration and the getting-into of things not intended for her to get into.

Receptively, Del's language has taken a bit of a jump. The other day Daddy F and Del were playing a game of passing a teether back and forth. He gave it to her and pointed to me and signed, "Give it to Mommy." I didn't call to her or reach out my hands; I just waited to see what she would do. She looked at him with a blank face and Daddy F pointed to me again and signed "Mommy, go give this to mommy. Give. Mommy." Del's eyes all of a sudden lit up as she understood the message and she shrieked as she sped over to me and shoved the toy at me, elated. (Insert typical background noise of "yay!" and clap-clap-clap!) Since then I've been giving Del little directives, to see how much she is able to understand and follow. Startling, really, to think of how brilliant babies are. So much learning, so quickly, and not only is it effortless, but they truly delight in each and every new discovery along the way.

Del's hand babbling has increased recently, and has taken on more "intonation," or different level of intensity. When she wakes in the morning, she tends to wave her hands about with loose wrists, talking at the same time as though sharing with us the stories of her dreams. When we read books to her before naps or at bedtime, she will sometimes turn the pages herself, and babble manually and vocally at the same time, as though telling us the story. She has a lot more intonation in her voice these days, with long, ear-shattering minutes dedicated to the exploration of: HOW HIGH and HOW LOUD can this voice of mine go?

Del seems to already have a fundamental grasp of Daddy F's deafness. Our schedule during the week is such that both Daddy F and I are home alone with Del different days. When I put Del down for a nap and she wakes up, she will typically start yelling or talking loudly to herself when she gets up to alert me to come get her. The other day I came home early and Daddy F had just put Del down for a nap. I took care of some bills and read for a while in our back den. At one point I went to go get a drink of water and passed our bedroom. There Del was, sitting up wide awake and staring straight at the door, just waiting for someone to appear. She was silent as can be, and looked confused, then surprised, then happy to see me as we caught each-others' eyes. Daddy F claims that she is typically sitting up and staring at the doorway like this when he goes in to check if she's awake. I can honestly say that I have never experienced Del waking up silently when I am home alone with her. She's put two and two together and learned that Daddy doesn't come when yelled at, but mommy does. It will be interesting to see how she uses this information to her advantage (and my disadvantage?) as she continues to grow and learn.

A-ya-ya-ya-ya squeeeEEEEE!

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

First signs, first words?

To any parents (or aunties or uncles, siblings or friends), what were your baby's (or babies') first signs and/or words? What things do you remember about their language around ten months of age? Is your baby bi- (or tri-) lingual? If yes, what language did/does that baby prefer? At what age did baby begin to code-switch, or go back and forth with ease between the two languages?

Variegated varietals

Happy Sunday (especially since the Bears are about to clinch this round of the playoffs)

Last Saturday evening I was prepping some veggies for dinner, and Del was happily sitting at my feet and playing with a lime, babbling all the while. I didn't manage to get a recording of her (yet!), but I did glance at the clock and take a five-minute language sample to get a more official measure of the sounds, syllable types, and length of utterances she is making these days. I will do my best to write out what it sounded like, then I will show a broad phonetic transcription of her sounds, followed by a brief analysis of her vocal development to date. This is approximately what I was listening to as I chopped carrots and peeled sweet potatoes:

Aaaaajeejeejivezivaaavai! Aaaavv. Vvvvvvv. Aheyaijai! Yay. Ayayayayaaaaaa! Abibibibibai. Awawawawaaaaa! Vvvvvv. Aaaayayaya! Zzzzzzz. Ahdadadadi. Aivaivadee! Tladadadee. Sfadadee. Gagagudaydeedee!

Phonetic transcriptions:
/a::ʤiʤiʤɪvəzɪvavaɪ/
/a::v/
/v::/
/aheɪjaɪʤaɪ/
/jeɪj/
/ajajajaja::/
/abɪbɪbɪbɪbaɪ/
/awawawawa::/
/v::/
/a::jajaja/
/z::/
/adadadadɪ/
/aɪvaɪvadi/
/dladadadi/
/zvadadi/
/gagagʊdeɪdidi/

Her longest utterance during that five minutes was eight syllables long. Syllable shapes include sustained, or prolonged, vowels (written as V:), sustained continuant consonants (written as C:, this refers to any consonant sound you can sustain such as /m, n, f, v, s, z/), the common and prevalent consonant-vowel syllables (written as CV), and the newly introduced vowel-consonant syllable (VC; seen only once here in the syllable /a::v/). Before I explain more about her sounds, let's review some of the basic concepts and terms used when discussing sound production. Refer the the following diagrams as you read along to help make better sense of everything. The first diagram includes all of the consonant sounds of English and is generally referred to as a Phoneme Chart. The second shows the relative spacing of vowels in English and is referred to as the Vowel Chart. Things are about to get pretty "linguistic-y," so if you came for the video that's not here, this is probably a good time to bail!

PLACE, MANNER, VOICING
When we describe the phonetic properties of consonant sounds in any language, we identify them by their place of articulation, the manner in which they are produced, and whether they are voiced or voiceless. In the phoneme chart, place of articulation is shown along the top column. The far left corresponds to the front part of the vocal tract (i.e., the lips) and moves back in the mouth as you move to the right of the chart. Manner of articulation is shown running from top to bottom in the left-most column. I'm not quite sure if there is any reason for the order of the different manners of articulation. When there is a pair of symbols in one box of the phoneme chart, this indicates a voiced/voiceless pair of phonemes. In such a pair, the left symbol is always voiceless and the right symbol always voiced. For example, /p/ is a voiceless bilabial plosive (or stop), and /b/ is a voiced bilabial plosive. Listen to their difference as you say the words "pop" and "bob" to yourself. That difference between those two words is referred to as a voicing contrast.

Vowel sounds on the other hand are described by the approximate location where they are produced inside of the mouth (e.g., high, middle or low; front, center, or back) and if they are produced with lip rounding (i.e., /o, u/) or not. We can't explain vowels by their articulators because there is no contact between articulators like there is for consonants. We try to describe the relative location of the tongue in the mouth (as best we can. . .vowels are very tricky!) We don't specify voicing with respect to vowels because in English all vowels are produced with vocal fold vibration. We also don't talk about manner because they are all produced the same way, as continuants with a steady steam of air flowing through vibrating vocal cords.

PLACE
Place of articulation, as mentioned in a previous post, refers to where in the mouth a sound is produced, and if any part or parts of the tongue are also included in the creation of that sound. For example, the phoneme /b/ is produced with two lips coming together and apart, so it has a bilabial (or two lip) place of articulation. The sound /v/ in English is made with the upper teeth on the lower lip, so this is referred to as having a labiodental (or lip and teeth) place of articulation.

MANNER
Manner of articulation describes how a sound is made. For example, a plosive (or stop) consonant is made by temporarily stopping (or blocking) the flow of air coming from the lungs and through the vocal folds with two articulators. Stops can be either nasal (i.e., with air flowing through the nose) or oral (i.e., with air flowing through the mouth). A bilabial stop consonant stops the air at the lips to produce /b, p/ or /m/. Other manners of articulation include fricatives, which involve forcing air through tightly constricted articulators and causing turbulence, such as for the sounds /f, v, s/ and /z/. In English we also produce affricates, which are a combination of stop and fricative consonants such as the sounds in "church." This sound is produced as a combination of /t/ and the sound in "shush." We also have approximates, where articulators come close together and air flows smoothly such as for the sounds /w, j/, and our lateral approximant /l/, which is produced with air flowing off the sides of the tongue and can be heard in the word "like." Then there is the infamous /r,/ which so many people have difficulty producing, and has inspired loveable cartoon characters such as Elmer Fudd ("Why that wascly wabbit!").

So far, for place, Del has produced bilabial, labiodental, alveolar, and velar sounds. For manner she has used stops (nasal and oral), fricatives, affricates, and approximants. She favors voicing over voiceless sounds (although I have heard her use /t/ and /p/, there are no voiceless consonants produced in this language sample), and has yet to venture into the elusive and tricky land of L and R.

As always, I will try to capture her amusing and intriguing vocal play on video for your viewing enjoyment. Next post will be much shorter and accompanied by a video of some kind!

Milk milk milk milk milk milk milk

Happy 2011 to you all. If things go as the alarmists, conspiracy theorists, and religious fanatics world-wide would have us believe, we have less than two years left on this planet. So live life for today, and make every moment count! Even if the world doesn't end on 12/21/12, those are still good mottos to live by.

If you haven't figured out from the title of this post, Del's absolute favorite sign is MILK! But before I go into more detail about that, let me talk a little about her vocal babbling, as it has taken an amusing turn lately and I haven't written about her English language in a bit.

Babbling is Funny!
At nine months and a chunk of change, Del is everywhere all at once. She crawls so fast it seems impossible, the slap-slap-slap of her hands on our wooden floors beating out a rapid cadence as I track her down once again behind the door, the corner, the table. She pants a manic kind of baby laugh as she crawls, so delighted is she in her sheer speed and constantly progressing mobility. She also pulls up to stand on everything, as she is a very (very!) tall baby and can reach even the seat of our tall kitchen stools and the third shelf of our pantry, eek! I have replaced what I can with items that are Del friendly, but we are quickly outgrowing our apartment and Del has me running in circles around our three cozy rooms, doing my best to help her avoid catastrophe.

Her babbling is changing as rapidly as her physical ability. She now talks to herself in almost conversation-like intonation, with lots of /v/ (as in "van") and /sf/ (as in. . .wait, that's not an English phoneme!) sounds starting her typical consonant-vowel (CV) syllables. Her favorite time to really let loose vocally is when she is very tired and on the verge of sleeping, which means that I am inches away from her face as I am typically nursing her at this point. What tends to happen is this: her eyelids grow heavy and she stops eating to (presumably) pull away and fall asleep. Then she begins to serenade herself with any manner of ridiculous and fun sounds, growing louder and louder as she gets closer to sleep and her eyes grow more and more closed. This amuses me to no end, and I try my best to stifle laughter, which results in me shaking noiselessly as I suppress my giggles. My shaking, in turn, piques Del's curiosity, and she looks me square in the eye as she continues her soliloquy. Knowing she is looking at me, I dare not look at her, and I do my best to keep my eyes closed and feign sleep. But that Del is no stupid baby, and she knows Mama is awake under those eyelids. This is when the smacking, poking, and pulling begin. A little game of, "let's see how much she'll let me get away with before she admits she's still awake!" Needless to say, it's a hilarious situation that I know I will look back on and miss sorely. The only regret I have is that I never remember to bring the video or tape recorder to bed with us, so I have yet to capture this magical vocal play that I am so fortunate to be regaled with.

As far as I can remember (I'm not taking the meticulous linguistic notes I once promised myself), Del has added /v/, /s/ (as in "sun"), /p/ (as in "pun"), /f/ (as in "fun") and the occasional /t/ (as in "ton") to her list of sounds she plays around with. There are lots of other little sounds in there, and I will make it a point to take a sampling of her babbling sometime soon to share more accurately what she's been doing with her vocal cords and articulators lately. In addition to new consonant sounds, Del has really been enjoying playing with the pitch of her voice, or how high or low it is. She likes to lay her head alongside mine and hold an open /a/ (as in "hot") sound, which I then try to match. Then she goes up and down in pitch, waiting for me to match her in pitch before she moves on to the next one. I believe this is her way of exploring intonation, or the rise and fall of pitch that we utilize in speech to distinguish words from one-another and denote emotion, among other things.

But enough about that, we have a new video, hooray! The computer hell that Daddy F and I have been dealing with the last few months is finally over and we have an updated, shiny, quick and fantastic machine that (gasp!) has enough free space on it for me to edit videos with, whee! In addition to the sign MILK seen in the video, Del has added the letter "D" to her handshapes and has adapted her way of signing CHANGE (palms together with a turn of the wrists) and BANANA (pointed finger of one hand pressed repeatedly into the open palm of her other hand). We don't know yet what D means, but she signs it frequently and has for almost a week now, so sooner or later we'll figure it out, and by that time it will likely morph into something else that we will take another week or so to recognize. Oh my, but this language stuff is tricky (and fun!).