ASL

I found another wonderful site to further my education in the profiency of American Sign Language (ASL). I don't remember who taught me or where I learned it, but when I was in elementary, I learned the ASL alphabet and to this day remember it. When K was a baby, we taught him a few signs and it was very helpful to know when he wanted to "eat", wanted "more", and when he was "all done". As he continued to grow, so did his interest in ASL. Unfortunately, my knowledge didn't expand past the ASL baby books I had. So, I started doing a little online research and found http://www.aslpro.com/. It's basically an online dictionary of signs. It worked great every time K had something specific he wanted to know. Unfortunately, when I didn't use the sign for "moose", "cow", or "deer" enough, I forgot them.

When baby L, K and I stayed with my mom this past hurricane season, I found Signing Times on PBS. It was so fun and interesting that I had to order the DVD set. It made it to our house the day after we got back from my moms. I was so excited! I couldn't wait to start watching them with K. I was even more excited when K and I began signing to another and actually understand what the other was signing.

Since then, my interest in signing has deepened and of course, I can't find an ASL course anywhere in our city, not even at the local University. So, once again, I got online to find some courses. I was so excited when I found a website that not only teaches ASL in course form, but is free. I printed out the workbook and completed my first lesson today. I'm truly looking forward to signing a church service to a particular lady in our church that is only ever able to stay for the singing because the words are on a screen that she can read and doesn't have to be able to hear.

Baby Sign

Baby L started waving bye-bye a couple of weeks ago. It wasn't until today that I realized she can sign milk. They're so similar that I didn't realize that she was actually doing two different things. Poor baby, there's no telling how many times she might have been asking for milk and I just kept saying' "bye-bye". :-)

We taught K a few baby signs and now we're actually learning how to communicate with sign language. I'm not as consistent as I would like to be, but when we're in a store and I sign something to him, he understands what I am telling him without having to say a word. It's especially nice if he wonders off a little ways and I want him to do something, I don't have to yell or run to catch up with him, but can just sign to him.

It's nice to be able to communicate with my 10 month old and actually understand and know what she wants without either one of us getting frustrated trying to guess.