I taught my daughter several signs from the American Sign Language (ASL). She does not have a full ASL vocabulary as she only knows 7 signs. But you know what, just three of those signs have saved us so much grief. I know when she wants “more”, I know when she’s hungry and wants to “eat”, and I know when she wants her sippy cup to “drink” from. I don’t have moments of frustration at meal times (okay, maybe some frustration sometimes..we’re both human after all). The short of it though, is that sign language has helped us communicate better, even with just a few signs.
Has it hampered her speech? No, not really. I think it wires the brain to connect that all objects have names. And the words she can say, she says. She can say more for example, while signing. But she can’t say the hard word “cracker” yet, so she signs that (it’s incidentally her favorite word). Other words I didn’t teach her the sign for but she instead says are “bird” and “water”.
It would be the ultimate understatement to say I’m proud of her.
I was about to write something a bit depressing. I’ve noticed my posts lately aren’t as chirpy and positive as they used to be. So I decided this one wouldn’t be more of the same. In fact, I dare you not to crack a smile!
Here’s my daughter at 13 months. I’ve got more vids of her that are absolutely hilarious. Those will be published later… Read more »
I’ve had a busy and productive weekend. I’m really glad I’m in school. I feel that my brain gets so much needed exercise learning new things, digesting the information I’ve been given, churning out papers on it, and honing my studying skills to maintain good grades.
I didn’t talk much about my previous job. And I say job deliberately…I wasn’t gonna turn that into a fulfilling life-long career. It was, in almost every aspects, a GREAT job. Highly competitive pay, amazing benefits, great people to work with, great bosses, and really a breezy job to do for the pay I was getting. About my 3rd year in the company though, I felt major burnout. My productivity decreased alarmingly, I hated everyone that I had to help or was apathetic, I resented everything, and appreciated nothing. Things turned around a little once I got pregnant my 4th year at the company, but only because I was excited about the pregnancy and not because anything had gotten better at work. I could feel my brain turning into mush from lack of use literally, and felt so unfulfilled.
