Sunday, July 24, 2011

communication

i've finally decided to start doing "signs" (my own basic, made-up sign language) with milo, as i know both ben's mom and a friend of my parents' use sign-language with their babies/toddlers.

i just started it, so i doubt he'll pick it up any time soon, but from what i've read and just watching him, he does seem to know what's going on and understand what i'm trying to ask of him or tell him.

and then after church today, i was letting him crawl around on the floor with a little girl who's just over 1, and they totally love each other. they both squeal and try to poke at each others' eyes and it's fun to watch. but when she lost interest, and he was getting bored of the floor, he crawled over to me, pulled himself up to standing by holding onto my pant-leg, and then reached his other hand up towards me. this is one of the earliest "signs" that i'd been doing with him, reaching my arms down towards him before picking him up and asking, "do you want to get up?" that and "come here" by holding my hand out and waving towards myself, and - until he gets distracted by the cat or some other shiny-pokey-non-baby-proofed item - he'll start to come towards me and i'll cheer and clap and keep repeating the motion and the command.

this is most exciting to me, as his pterodactyl squeals only tell me that he's excited about something, but for all i know, it could be that either he finally pooped his pants or that the cat is making faces at him again. i'm looking forward to the life-time of communication that's only just beginning with the little man... and to have him be able to simply tell me he has a poopy diaper as opposed to having to check up-close and personal, was that nostril-full of wonderful aroma just a toot or the real deal. the "sign" for that is icky face. ;P

4 comments:

  1. Hi Zoe! I found your blog through Jane Devries' blog. I went to church with Ben in Pomeroy. Now I have an 8 month old daughter, so it's fun to read your adventures in motherhood! :)

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  2. oh fun! is she your first, too? glad you're enjoying it - i'll let ben know that we're blog buddies now :P

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  3. Yep, she's my first! Pretty much every thing you blog about, I end up going through about a month or so later...so yeah, thanks for paving the way and preparing me for my near future. :) Yes, Hi to Ben!

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  4. lol - nice! well i'm glad to be of helo :)

    whatever you do, just stay consistent. this has been my biggest struggle, and as i worked on getting him to self soothe and sleep train, it all went out the window a few months later the night we decided to give him a bottle after he'd been sleeping through the night just fine without anything, but he woke up crying, and in the middle of the night, my resolve just wasn't there...

    anyhow, that's the why-for on the recent late night, sleep-deprived and crazed posts..... i just keep telling myself it's going to get better, we're just in a rough spot right now, and it's not even that bad, it's just gonna take some time to adjust and learn how to be consistent and take better care of myself too.

    ahhhhh motherhood :P

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