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.