Signing With Your Baby: Signing and BabysittersWritten by Monica Beyer
Imagine this: You come to pick up your baby from her day-care after a long day at work or after a quick run to store. Expecting to find a delighted baby, you're greeted by your child's frustrated caregiver and your fussy infant. "What does this mean?" babysitter asks, rotating her fists. You unhappily realize that your baby has been trying to ask for a changed diaper for last hour and her caregiver didn't understand sign she was using.Some parents who sign with their babies are stay-at-home-mothers, while some moms work outside home. Working presents a unique situation because your baby likely goes to a babysitter for a certain amount of time during day and he or she may not be aware that you sign with your baby. Even SAHM's can understand problems that may arise when they leave their babies in care of a grandmother or favorite aunt for a night out or a baby-free grocery-shopping event. My husband cares for children during day while I'm at school, and he works at night while I'm home. So, I am not intimately familiar with concerns of those who use outside help on a full-time basis. I do, however, understand how it can be a big concern for those trying to establish signing with baby and are unsure of how daycare will affect their efforts. Michelle, located in UK, put her daughter Rio into full-time day-care at age of 8 months. "I had mentioned from day one that I was teaching her to sign," she said. "The nursery were very interested in what I was doing and Rio's two main carers borrowed book and video to watch before she started there full time so that they had an insight into what she was doing." Her experience was a positive one because she had caregivers who were open-minded and positive about baby signing. "On whole I found that there was a growing interest and very positive approach to baby signing," she said.
| | Signing With Your Baby: The Signing ToddlerWritten 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 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 "milk" sign too. He weaned himself at age of 20 months and probably still remembers nursing. One day he spotted my bra lying on 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 bra on his head, signed "milk," and laughed uncontrollably. It was so funny!
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