Talking

The narration in this post doesn't really have anything to do with the pictures, besides the obvious fact that it is all about Gabi. Rather than think of the content as incongruous, you might consider looking through this post twice: once to view the pictures and captions, and once to read my story.


Gabi pushing her stroller around the
Columbia Presbyterian Seminary campus
(just a few blocks from our house).


Uh-oh! The stroller got away!
Going downhill is tricky...
5/2/06

As Easy as a Game of Marco Polo
Gabi is starting to talk quite a bit these days. Her first word was "Hi!" Her favorite word is "Mama," which she repeats tirelessly to get my attention. When I get annoyed with hearing "Mama" 150 times every hour, Michael reminds me that "Mama" is a good thing for her to say, and it is a tribute to my parenting that she says words like "Mama" instead of things like "shut up," which some other children her age say.

Gabi had been calling Michael "Pa-mama" or "Pop-ma" -- I guess he's like the Mama, only a little different -- but Michael didn't appreciate those names. Michael decided to teach her to say "Papa," so a few weeks ago he started saying "Papa" every time Gabi said "Mama" to him. They would chase each other around the living room repeating that over and over ("Mama" "Papa" "Mama" "Papa") as if it were a game of Marco Polo. Besides this little game, he will only pay attention to her if she calls him Papa. Fortunately, Gabi has since learned to say "Papa" when talking to Michael.


Gabi loves to stop and smell the roses.
5/3/06

Hot
Gabi learned to say "hot" shortly after she picked up the sign for hot. She can now tell me that the car seat is hot when I put her in the car, that her bath water or the water for washing her hands is too hot, and that her food is hot. If something is really hot, then she will both do the sign and say the word to emphasize how hot it is. Whenever her food is hot, she knows to blow on it to cool it off. Gabi is so smart!

I think rice was the motivating factor in how quickly Gabi learned to sign and say hot. Gabi loves rice (even more than her Ninong!), and she knows that rice is hot. She started saying "more hot" to ask for more rice. She will do her sign for hot, say "hot," start blowing, and point to the rice cooker to let us know what she wants. We are working on a sign for rice, but she hasn't picked it up yet. (Why bother, if she can get her point across perfectly well as it is?)

Gabi says "nana" to ask for a banana, another of her favorite foods, and this morning she even got the b sound added to the beginning.


Gabi climbing some stairs at Oakhurst Park playground.
5/4/06


Gabi and Papa enjoying the garden at Mason Mill Park in the rain.

More
More was Gabi's first sign, and she is now very good about pronouncing "more" as well. She used to say something similar to "mama" for more, but as that caused some confusion, she is now very careful to draw out the m and use the o vowel ("mmmmmooahr"), so her "more" is very clear these days.

Since playing is a child's job, it makes since that many of Gabi's words refer to her toys. Ball ("baah") and bear ("beah") and puppy ("puppah") and book ("bu") and duck ("duh(t/k)") top the list. (Sometimes I think she has a Boston accent with all the hs that she uses to replace the difficult r sound.) Some of Gabi's other words include "yes" and "boo" and "akullahca-babalupaka." She hasn't said "no" yet, for which I guess I should be thankful. She shakes her head no if she needs to communicate that concept.

She imitates a lot of words that she doesn't use spontaneously yet. For instance, when I read her color book, she repeats "purple." After she gives us something, she repeats our "thank you." When I ask if she wants up, she will very clearly say "up." She also imitates what I say when I name the food I'm giving her, such as "apple."


Gabi and the starfish at the aquarium.
5/5/06


Gabi walks so fast now,
it's hard to catch a good picture before she runs away.


Gabi and Doc, a neighbor's dog.

Signing
A number of people have inquired about Gabi's signing, so I'll give a few more details here. Baby signs are very popular these days with many new moms, so you've probably seen them if you know any toddlers or older infants. Children can start signing around 9 or 10 months, whereas they do not master the necessary control of vocal chords for speech until 12 or 13 months of age. Signing makes it easier for babies to communicate. The most common place to start using baby signs is at the dinner table. Gabi can ask for "more" instead of crying and screaming, and she can sign "all done" instead of throwing food on the floor.


Gabi likes to watch the water fountain at the mall.
5/6/06

My Child's Mind
Baby signs have also allowed us to see what Gabi is thinking and let us know how smart she is. One day last year, when she first woke up in the morning, she did her rabbit sign to tell me she wanted to visit the rabbits--and I would never have known that she woke up thinking about the rabbits if it weren't for signs.

Gabi uses the dog sign and her word for "puppy" interchangably, which is evidence that she realizes that dog and puppy are the same thing. I was so impressed when I learned that she figured that out.

Another day I was talking to a friend about how Gabi learned to stand up by herself, and Gabi did her sign for stand up to tell us about her new skill even while she was strapped into the high chair. Over Christmas, Lola suggested that we go to the store to buy some hot dogs for Gabi, and Gabi did her dog sign to say that she recognized one of the words that we were saying. We would not how realized how soon Gabi started picking up on words used in regular conversation without her signs.

One day, a violinist was playing a solo at church, and Gabi smiled and swayed to the music and did her bird sign, as if to say that the violin sounded like a bird's song. What a beautiful analogy! I don't think you could ask for a better compliment from a one-year-old who loves to listen to birds.


Gabi holding a Gerber daisy from our front yard.
5/10/06

Self-Expression
Perhaps the most important benefit of baby signs (in my mind) is that it gives Gabi a way to share her experiences and thoughts. How lonely would you be if you could not communicate with anyone around you? Gabi gets so excited when we understand what she is trying to tell us. When she asks for something and we say something to let he know that we understood, she smiles so big and laughs. When she sees something interesting outside the window, she loves being able to direct our attention to what she found. There are so many opportunities that Gabi has had to share her world with us because of baby signs. I think her ability to communicate with us has given her a boost in self-esteem.

Research has shown that baby signs help children speak sooner and build vocabulary faster. Signs introduce the concept of language -- a symbol (sign or word) represents a concept -- and give young children the opportunity to match the sign to the object. Figuring out these connections helps their brain development as well as promoting an interest and confidence in communication skills. Even now that Gabi is talking verbally, she can still use her signs to emphasize what she is saying (by pairing the sign with the word to say it two ways) and to augment her vocabulary (for signs that she cannot yet say the word).


Gabi at softball practice at Mason Mill Park.
5/11/06


Gabi watches Papa at bat.

Communication
The purpose of baby signs is communication, not perfection. While I like to use ASL signs when I can (if she's learning to sign, she might as well learn ASL), some of the ASL signs require more fine motor skills than babies have or are too similar for babies to differentiate. Our sign for hot, for instance, is waving the hand at the wrist (like you might do to cool down your hot food) -- Michael just made it up, but it works wonderfully. And even when we do model an ASL sign (we do the ASL sign for more), sometimes Gabi modifies it a bit (Gabi tends to clap to say more). As long as we know what she's saying, it works.