Friday, May 21, 2010

Milestone time: first sign!

We had decided to teach Stella sign language before she was born. We read research that confirmed that babies who sign often are less frustrated (and therefore cry less) because they can communicate long before they can speak. Also, studies have shown that signing babies' speech is enhanced and by the age of eight, signing babies scored higher on IQ tests than non-signing peers. We are hoping that this coupled with teaching her tennis will be all we need for a full college scholarship. Hey, we can dream, can't we? :)

Stella signed back to us for the first time on May 17th. She signed "more" because she wanted me to give her some more food. I can't begin to explain my excitement! The next day, she signed "dog" as we were reading a book with a dog in it. We are really impressed and have started adding in even more signs to our vocabulary.

So far, she can recognize (but not replicate) these signs: milk, eat, bed, hat, book, bird, stop and cat. We can't wait to post more videos of her signing milestones. This whole "being a parent" thing is definitely a learning experience for both her and us!

4 comments:

  1. How cute!!! She is so smart! Good job momma!

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  2. That's awesome, Liv! I'm so impressed!

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  3. Wow! I think she just signed "Hi Grandpa"!

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  4. Thanks, Stacia and Darci :) I really hope that this was the hardest part of parenting. It just gets easier from here!

    She doesn't sign, "Hi Grandpa", she SAYS that!

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