When I first bought Baby Signing Time, the idea was to teach Gavin how to sign so he could communicate with me instead of feeling frustrated whenever I couldn’t understand what he wanted.  I was so impressed with the CDs and DVDs that I bought a few more DVDs from the Signing Time collection.  It wasn’t long before I went and bought the whole set. 

By the time I bought the rest of the DVDs, Gavin was already learning to speak in leaps and bounds (which I think is also partly due to his exposure to Baby Signing Time from the age of 5 months) that it seemed almost pointless to teach him more signs.  Since I already had the new DVDs, I played them for him anyway.  I was glad to see that Gavin loved watching the new Signing Time DVDs.

He has learned a lot from the Signing Time DVDs, for instance, he learned to say the name and correctly identify the following animals in different contexts (from watching Signing Time Series 1 Volume 9: The Zoo Train): rhinoceros, bat, seal, panda, hippopotamus, zebra, tiger, lion, star fish, shrimp, lobster, crab, octopus, monkey, kangaroo, camel, gorilla, elephant, penguin, and giraffe.

The last time we took Gavin to the zoo was when he was 18 months.  At that time, he wasn’t particularly interested in much except for the fish.  Now, he can tell us when he sees zoo animals in books or on Animal Planet.  The only animals he still gets confused with are the sharks, dolphins and whales, which all look pretty similar to him. 

Honestly, if it weren’t for Signing Time, I doubt Gavin would have learned the animals because he wasn’t at all interested in learning about them at all.  Yes, I tried.  I tried to teach him the names of different animals using flash cards but all he wanted to see were his Thomas and Friends trains and any toy or book related to Thomas or a train.  It was only after he started watching The Zoo Train that he started repeating the names of animals he had seen on the DVD.  In fact, it was only after watching Signing Time that he started learning about subjects other than trains and Thomas.

It was also because of watching Signing Time that he can now correctly identify the colours: blue, red, green, yellow, black, pink, purple, and orange (from Series 1 Volume 6: My Favourite Things and Series 2 Volume 12: A Box of Crayons).  Previously, we taught him blue, red and green because they are the most common colours of the engines on Thomas and Friends.  Back then, he only knew the colours by association.  For instance, green would be “Percy” because Percy was the green engine, and blue would be “Thomas” because Thomas was blue.  Now I can pick up a crayon and ask him the colour and he gets it right.

Here’s a snip from A Box of Crayons - one of Gavin’s favourite songs:

I was with Gavin in the bookshop recently and another mother of three older boys was observing Gavin.  Gavin was busy picking Thomas books off the shelf and sitting on a little step.  He would then open the book and start identifying the different trains in the book.  The mother asked me how old Gavin was and really impressed with how much he could say after I told her he was nearly 2.

The Signing Time DVDs have also been great for getting Gavin’s cooperation in the carseat because he loves to listen to the songs - which are available on a separate audio CD.  Being already familiar with the songs from watching the DVDs, he keeps asking to listen to them in the car.  I’ve also heard him attempt to sing “Colours of the Rainbow” and “ABC”.  (HL, I tried to record it on video but he became all shy when he spotted the camera.  It is so adorable you’ve got to see it!  Don’t worry, I will catch him at it eventually).

I’ve also noticed something about the way Gavin learns.  He’ll be really interested in only a few DVDs and want to watch those DVDs over and over again.  After a while, he’ll get bored of them and he’ll move on to a new DVD and watch only that one.  Once he’s bored of that one, he moves on again.  No wonder children learn so quickly - they have better focus and they concentrate on mastering one skill before they move on.

I know they say that watching TV isn’t very interactive for children and they don’t learn much but I honestly feel that Gavin has learned a lot from watching Signing Time.  I really feel it is one of the best educational series I’ve bought for Gavin to date.

Popularity: 2% [?]

When I was in University, we studied child development in our psychology lectures so we could learn how to manage children of different ages in the dental clinic.  Although I memorised this information for my exams, I confess I’ve long forgotten the average timeline of milestones for children.  Since I wasn’t particularly interested in paediatric dentistry and rarely saw children in my clinic (after that spell I did in the paediatric clinic when I was still a student), I didn’t really need the information on hand.

It wasn’t until I was pregnant with Gavin that I started to read up about child development.  Gavin being my first child and having a lot of things to remember, average age for specific milestone achievements weren’t especially high on my list.  So long as he was learning new things and developing normally, I was pretty content. 

Of course that didn’t stop me from looking for new materials and tools to help Gavin’s development - such as those flash cards I made for him and the Signing Time DVDs I bought for him.  I believe that at this young age, a child’s potential for learning is at it’s maximum and not to utilise this advantage is a poor waste of your child’s resources.  Anything that helps to establish a strong foundation for later life is always worth the investment of time to do it right from the beginning.

As any mother would be of her own child, I’ve always been proud of all of Gavin’s achievements - no matter how big or small.  That I should think my son is intelligent, handsome and charming is only to be expected because I am his mother and I harbour the natural biasses of a mother.  So when hubby and I receive comments from friends, family and other acquaintances expressing their surprise at the pace of Gavin’s speech development, I did stop and wonder whether he really is advanced for his age.

Just looking at the timeline for the average speech and language development of a child seems to confirm that Gavin is ahead of the average in this area.  For instance, this is what the average 2 year old should have achieved:

• Expressive vocabulary of 150-300 words.
• Uses short incomplete sentences.
• Uses many different consonant sounds in the beginning of words.
• Puts many actions together during play like stirring, pouring, scooping, and feeding a doll.
• Points to pictures in a book when named and listens to simple stories.
• Learns a few new words each week.
• Understands simple questions (“Where’s your shoe”).

Gavin is 22 months old and he has hit all of these for a number of months already.  I think I have to thank the Baby Sign Language DVDs that I exposed Gavin to since he was about 5 months old for this advanced development. 

When a few of my relatives heard I was teaching Gavin Sign Language to help him communicate with me and express his wants, they believed that learning Sign would delay his speech development.  The premise was that if he could already communicate using Sign, he would have no incentive to learn how to talk.  Despite my telling them that observations on infants learning Sign found that this was not so, I think they were still somewhat doubtful.

Well, it looks like my study of one confirms that learning Sign does not delay speech development, but advances it.  And this is just the results of my showing him a couple of DVDs and signing to him on the odd occasion when I could remember.  I wonder what his development might be like if I had been more dedicated to teaching him Sign?  I’ll let you know with baby no. 2.

Now that Gavin can speak, I still find the new Signing Time DVDs I bought to be very useful.  Aside from the fact that they are the only other series that Gavin enjoys watching aside from Thomas and Friends, he also learns a lot of new words and concepts by watching it.  For instance, he now knows a lot of names for animals where previously he wasn’t really interested to learn about them.

Because the format of Signing Time shows the word, associated pictures, the sign for the word and accompanies it with music, the DVDs are educational in other ways beyond the teaching of Sign.  For instance, when teaching the word “tiger”, they show a picture of a tiger, the written word “tiger”, how to sign “tiger” and then a series of shots showing children signing the word “tiger” and more visuals of tigers.

Currently, Gavin’s favourite DVDs from the Signing Time collection would have to be:

The Zoo Train - below is one of the songs from the Zoo Train called “Walking Thru the Zoo”:

Time to Eat - below is a video of one of the songs from this volume:

My Favourite Things - below is a song from this volume called “Colours of the Rainbow”:

What are the benefits of teaching your baby to sign?

• reduces tantrums and frustration from not being able to express needs (thus making the stage of the “terrible twos” a little easier)
• promotes language acquisition
• reinforces existing language skills
• increases rate of spatial reasoning development
• develops understanding of language for communicating emotions
• may increase IQ
• increases creative thinking
• teaches a second language (ASL is a formally recognised language)
• increases early literacy skills

As the hubby says, baby no. 2 benefits from everything we’re learning through raising Gavin.  Now that I know how effective Signing Time has been, I’ll be sure to be more dedicated when it comes to teaching baby no. 2 how to sign.

Popularity: 4% [?]

After a rather long and lengthy process, the Signing Time DVDs I ordered two and a half months back have finally arrived.  As you can see from the pictures below, I wasn’t the only one excited about it.  When Gavin saw them, he couldn’t wait to start watching them!

So I set them all out and asked him to pick what he wanted to see.  We spent the rest of the evening watching 4 episodes! 

Since he can now say a lot of words, Gavin doesn’t really sign any more.  Even though he hasn’t learned any new signs in a long time, he still loves the music from Signing Time and he enjoys watching the DVDs.  Even though his vocal progress is coming along very well, I think it would still be nice for him to learn Sign - not just so he can use it to communicate with the deaf but also because of its audio-visual-kinesthetic approach to learning. 

Having bought Baby Signing Time Volume 1 and 2, I think it was probably rather unnecessary to have gotten Signing Time Series 1 Volume 1 and 2 because a lot of the signs taught are repeated.  Additionally, since Signing Time Series 1 Volume 1 and 2 were the first episodes created, I don’t think they were as engaging or as well-made as the later episodes.  Between them and the Baby Signing Time episodes, the latter is infinitely better.  Signing Time Series 1 Volume 3 is where more new signs are introduced.  It is also when Rachel Coleman started incorporating more music into the lessons.

So if you’re going to buy the Signing Time Series, I would suggest getting the Baby Signing Time Series instead of Volumes 1 and 2 of Signing Time Series 1.

Popularity: 4% [?]

Ever since I heard about Baby Signing Time through a friend, I have been keen to teach Gavin how to sign.  Anything that would help to head off toddler tantrums and help us get through the “terrible twos” more smoothly was, in my book, definitely worth looking into.  When I bought the Baby Signing Time Set, I found it so engaging that even I enjoyed watching them.

After Gavin started learning most of the signs from Baby Signing Time, I thought it was time to get more DVDs and I bought myself another three DVDs from the Signing Time collection from the topics that Gavin was most interested in at the time.  I was surprised that Gavin didn’t enjoy the Signing Time collection as much as he enjoyed Baby Signing Time.  I guess the layout and change in characters took a bit of getting used to.  I also thought it might be due to the fact that Baby Signing Time plays music throughout the DVD, whereas, Signing Time stops in between to teach new signs.

At that time, I wished that Rachel would make more Baby Signing Time DVDs so that Gavin could learn more signs (since he wasn’t keen to watch Signing Time).  It turns out that my wish has come true - there is now a Volume 3 and 4 for the Baby Signing Time collection available.  Here’s a sneak preview…

Baby Signing Time Volume 3:

Baby Signing Time Volume 4:

I should add that Gavin has since warmed up considerably to the Signing Time DVDs I bought him and really loves the new songs.  He still signs to me that he wants to watch Signing Time - although he refers to them all as “Baby Signing Time”.  His enjoyment of the series prompted me to buy the rest of Signing Time series 1 and 2 - okay, okay, I confess, I bought them so I could watch them, too.

Although Gavin is getting older, I would still love to get a copy of Baby Signing Time Volume 3 and 4.  Gavin loves music and dancing and he enjoys watching the children signing.  And even though Gavin is picking up lots of new words every day now (to the point that he sometimes stops signing and just says the word), I like the audio-visual-kinesthetic approach to teaching that Signing Time offers and I think Sign Language is a great second language for Gavin to have under his belt.  Besides, baby number two will be able to watch and learn from them, too. (For those waiting for news - no, this is not a hint that baby number two is on the way)…

Author’s Note:  I originally wrote this blog post hoping to enter the Little Hands competition and win a complimentary copy of the new Baby Signing Time DVDs but then discovered that I couldn’t enter because I’m not a US resident.  Nevertheless, I really think Signing Time is great so I’ve decided to keep this post up.  If you want to teach your baby how to sign, I highly recommend this series of DVDs.

Ammended Note (19 September):  The Little Hands competition competition is now open to everyone.

Popularity: 7% [?]

I’ve often heard about mother’s instincts where a mother just seem to know what her kids want or what they are trying to communicate.  Such instincts are great to have because they allow you to head off tantrums if you can anticipate certain behaviours or grasp what your toddler is trying to say before he gets frustrated.

I used to think that this instinct was due to some magical connection between parent and child - a talent that some parents just naturally had and others didn’t.  I also worried that I was going to be a parent that fell into the latter category.  Now I’ve realised that all it has to do with is knowing your child - something that any parent can develop simply by spending more quality time with your child.  And if you’re like me - a little slow on the uptake - then spending more time with your child is important.  This is another reason why being a SAHM is great because I’m sure if I had been a working Mum, I would have been hopeless at deciphering my son’s wants and needs.

To illustrate the point:

Last Saturday, I was helping my MIL out in the kitchen when Gavin wanted to go out into the garden.  Since I was busy, Daddy helped out by taking him out to see the fish.  After a while, I heard Gavin saying, “Raid! Raid!”

Poor Daddy, who spends 5 and a half days a week at work, didn’t realise that “raid” means “read” - in other words: “please read Thomas the Tank Engine to me”.  So Daddy kept trying to distract Gavin’s increasing frustration through other means - which only succeeded for a while before Gavin’s distress could no longer be calmed.  I yelled to Daddy to read to him, but I guess he didn’t hear me.  Eventually, they came back into the house with Gavin crying for me, but after I read “The Great Race” once through, Gavin was content to play with his trains.

The first time Gavin said “noodles”, he pronounced it as “nunu” - which sounded more like “no, no” rather than “noodle”.  Call it instinct, but I think it is more likely due to the sum of my experiences with Gavin all processed at a subconscious level that made me realise he meant to say “noodle”.

And when he first started referring to “Milo” as “Mi”, I guessed it because I sometimes made reference to Milo as chocholate milk.

Likewise, I finally figured out that “dunno” meant “Thomas” when I was teaching him the concept of “big” and “small”.

Even for a lot of ASL signs, Gavin’s ability to reproduce the sign exactly is still limited to the capabilities of his manual dexterity.  For instance, he signs juice with his index finger instead of his pinky.  It is easy to learn what he means through careful observation and taking note of the context in which something is used.

Now that he is learning how to articulate, he often practices his words by voicing them out loud.  That differs from a request because he doesn’t really look at anyone in particular and he doesn’t get upset or repeat himself with more urgency in his voice when you don’t seem to be getting him.

Generally, a lot of new words and cues can be learned just by spending time with a child. In fact, I’ve realised that this is the fundamental requirement for learning anything about a child or infant - especially if you’re someone like me who has no intuitive knack for kids.  On Sunday night, I carried a two month old baby girl and felt extremely awkward because I didn’t know how she needed to be held.  Even though I have the past experience of carrying Gavin at two months old, I didn’t know her like I knew my own son (whom I had spent everyday with since he was conceived).

I guess it’s quite obvious - if you want to understand your child, just spend more time with him.  But in a day and age where there are so many distractions, it is an easy one to forget.

Popularity: 7% [?]

When I first bought the Baby Signing Time Collection for Gavin, my intention was to teach Gavin sign language so he could communicate with me.  I had read that toddlers who could communicate through sign language often had less temper tantrums because they could communicate what they wanted instead of having to endure the frustrations of not being understood.

Admitedly, I didn’t really try very hard to teach Gavin how to sign.  I continued to play the DVDs and music CDs for Gavin because I found that he particularly enjoyed watching and listening to them.  Here are a couple of clips from his favourte tracks:

Here I Go…

And Diaper Dance…

Even though I had not really succeeded in teaching Gavin enough Sign Language to head off his tantrums, I did discover that sometimes breaking out into these songs were enough to calm the savage toddler.

I even bought another three more Signing Time DVDs just because both Gavin and I enjoyed Rachel Coleman’s music so much. 

At 18 and a half months, I find that Gavin is starting to copy a lot of the words that we say, so I’m sure pretty soon he won’t need Sign to communicate with us any more.  Nevertheless, I still want to buy the rest of the Signing Time collection because it engages him through a multi-sensory approach - auditory, visual and kinesthetic - which I think is great for his development.

However, the DVDs don’t come cheap and with the freight charges, I’ve been trying to find them in Singapore.  I heard that they are selling in Singapore but I don’t know where.  If anyone has heard or seen them, please drop me a message in the comments.  Thanks!

Popularity: 6% [?]

The “Terrible Twos” is a phase that a child goes through that usually begins after turning one.  It peaks at the age 18 months and can last up until a child turns three.  There are essentially two reasons why it occurs:

1. In the second year, most children gain mobility and with mobility comes freedom and independence.  A child of that age begins to assert himself - he’s testing boundaries by pushing limits and seeing how far he can go before his parents reign him in.  It is also frustrating for him to be met with “no” on a constant basis when previously everything he wanted to do was encouraged.  Think about how we encourage our infants to crawl, to walk, to learn through exploration and to speak.  Suddenly, we’re telling them to stop touching things, that there are places they can’t go and we’re telling them to be quiet.  Now that’s got to be pretty confusing to a toddler.
2. In the second year, most children are still unable to communicate their needs and desires effectively and the inability to articulate themselves is intensely frustrating.  Think of how you would feel in a country with a foreign language you don’t speak and you cannot tell anyone what you need because they don’t understand you.  That’s exactly how a toddler feels but a toddler hasn’t the ability to reason and being understanding about it so it’s even worse for him. 

To manage the first, it is important to give your toddler a lot of warning before something is about to happen.  Just because he’s a child with a short attention span doesn’t mean he hasn’t got any feelings.  Particularly when I know I’m about to do something he won’t like, I make sure I tell him.  I learned my lesson the hard way when I tried to sneak off without telling him and I’ve come to realise that honesty really is the best policy especially when it comes to your toddler.

As for the “nos” we have to say when our toddlers get into the cutlery drawer, attempt to play with the power sockets, trying to jump into the pond, etc.  I’m afraid there’s not much you can do to avoid these frustrations, however, I usually find that the concern and fear in my voice is enough to make him realise I’m doing it for his own good.  I occasionally have to deal with a screaming and howling toddler, but the episodes are lessening somewhat.

With regards to frustrations due to the inability to articulate their wants and needs, teaching Gavin sign language has really helped me a lot.  For instance, he can sign “shoes” to tell me something about his shoes is bothering him otherwise I wouldn’t know why he was being fussy. 

Then there was the other day when he wanted to watch “Finding Nemo”.  He started fussing and crying but I didn’t know why.  Although I was a little slow on the uptake, I eventually noticed that he was signing “fish” and immediately realised that he wanted to watch “Finding Nemo”.  Now if he hadn’t been able to sign “fish”, who knows how long that little tantrum would have persisted.

The other sign he often uses is “train”.  Thomas is currently his favourite toy and he often wants his Thomas book and train.  He has got quite a number of words in his repertoire and he copies what we say occasionally, but his speech is still limited and signing still plays an important role to help us understand what he wants.

Teaching Gavin how to sign has a number of benefits:

• it provides him with a means of communication when he lacks the words to express himself verbally
• it helps train his motor coordination
• it trains his observation skills
• it offers us an entertaining game to play in the car
• it has made me more observant to his cues as I try to understand what he wants

For any parent wondering about whether to teach their infants sign language - I highly recommend it.  You can start as early as four months and keep persisting with it even if you don’t see any results.  When your child starts signing back, you will be amazed by how much was picked up by your child.

These tips may not resolve all your Terrible Twos problems but it will certainly help lessen the pain of it.

Popularity: 7% [?]

When we were at Tanjong Jara for a brief vacation recently, the hubby sweetly offered to mind Gavin on his own for an hour while I went off for a massage. 

Gavin had been showing increased clinginess towards me since the previous few days and during the entire time we were at Tanjong Jara, he only wanted me to carry him.  Daddy could only carry him if I was not in sight, or only for brief periods of time.  He only wanted me to hold his hand and he always wanted me to come with him whenever he wanted to explore something new.

Despite the increased clinginess over the past few days, I figured it would be okay to go since the hubby had been rather successful at getting Gavin to fall asleep without me recently.  Just to be on the safe side, I chose the shortest package they had to offer - which was a 50 minute long Malay massage. 

When it came time for me to head for my massage appointment, Gavin decided he didn’t want Mummy to go anywhere without him.  I tried to get him to fall asleep unsuccessfully until I had to go.  Hubby took Gavin and told him I was going to the toilet and I snuck out of our room (in retrospect, I probably should have just told Gavin where I was going and walked out with him knowing where I was going and that I would be coming back).  He would have still been mad but at least it wouldn’t have seemed so much like I had abandoned him.  Well, hindsight is 20-20 vision.

Anyway, I went off for the massage feeling rather uneasy the entire time.  When I finished my massage, I saw hubby carrying a calm Gavin in his arms and walking towards me.  Thinking everything went well, I waved at them.  Gavin, who normally waves back enthusiastically when he sees me, did not respond at all.  Feeling a little nervous, I waited until they were nearer before attempting to greet Gavin again.  Still no response. 

Gavin stared at me with dead eyes - it was a look that clearly said, “How could you abandon me?”  It was so accusatory - not in an angry way but a sad, defeated way, which made it even worse.  Tentatively, I reached out my arms to him and he didn’t respond.

“Do you want Mummy to carry you?”  I asked.

No response.

Considering that he had only wanted me to carry him since we arrived at Tanjong Jara, this was very unusual behaviour and it made me feel extremely nervous.  After repeatedly asking him if he wanted me to carry him, he finally reached his arms out to me but he was still silent.  I took him into my arms and immediately he began to wail.  He didn’t just cry - he howled with the kind of distress normally associated with intense misery and I couldn’t calm him down.

When Daddy asked Gavin if he wanted Daddy to carry him, he immediately reached out for Daddy.  It was like another slap on the face because he would previously refuse Daddy at every request to be carried.  I felt like the worst mother in the world for abandoning her child just so I could enjoy 50 minutes of toddler-free massage.

Finally Gavin allowed me to carry him again, but he was so solemn and silent that it was unnerving.  He wouldn’t talk to me and he wouldn’t look at me, although he did let me carry him so it was a minor improvement.  We tried to entice him to go swimming - something he really loves - but he refused to get into the water.  We finally took him back to the room and gave him a bath and he slowly came back to his old self.

Although I promised that I would never leave him like that again - at least until I am certain he is okay with it - I did wonder what suddenly sparked the increased clinginess at 16 months.  After he got over his 1 year old clinginess, he had been so independent and confident that I thought the clingy phase was completely over.  So it came as a surprise to me to see him regressing - or so it seemed.

I started researching 16 month clinginess and discovered that it is actually a normal phase of child development.  I also discovered why Gavin so easily launches into a tantrum of late.  A lot of it has to do with your child’s increasing desires and inability to express their wills due to limitations in their language.  So how do you manage your child at this stage?

Well, since the clinginess is a normal part of development, just manage it like you have always done - be there for your child and eventually he will regain his independence again. 

As for the tantrums, Moxie recommends taking into consideration the age of your child, your child’s personality and what you want to accomplish.  Generally, she believes that for toddlers under two years of age, it is important to be there for your child and comfort them to help them get through the tantrum.  Once your child can express himself well enough, you can ask him if he prefers you to hug him or leave him alone.

Although Gavin has learned to sign, so far the only requests he makes are for milk and juice.  Also he signs other words, he does not use them to express a desire - or if he does, I clearly haven’t understood what he wants me to do.  For instance, sometimes he keeps signing “shoe” and I suspect there is something wrong with his shoe, but I don’t know what he wants me to do about it.  If I take them off, he wants them on, if I put them back on, he wants them off.

I guess we’re just going to have to persevere a little more through the “chicken and duck talk” phase a little longer.

Popularity: 11% [?]

As part of my initiative to put more effort into signing with Gavin, I went out on a limb and bought another three Signing Time DVDs…

From the first series, I bought Family, Fun and Feelings (Volume 4), just because I figured these signs would be most relevant to Gavin.

And ABC Signs (Volume 5), so I could sign the first letter to words that I don’t know so that Gavin will have some way of communicating his important wants with us even if he doesn’t have a proper word for it.  For instance, I bought him a new cereal by Kelloggs called “Coco Balls” and I sign “C-C-ball” whenever I ask him if he wants some.

I also bought Move and Groove (Volume 3) from Series 2.  Well, it should be obvious why…  Gavin loves music and dancing so it seemed appropriate to teach him the proper signs to fit the actions.

I bought three DVDs because they had this special 10% off coupon if you buy three DVDs.

I expected Gavin to take to the new DVDs like a fish to water.  I’m sad to say I was sorely disappointed by his immediate reaction when I played “ABC Signs”.  He immediately put up his hand in his typical gesture of “no” and started squealing.  I was completely taken aback by the reaction.  At the most, I thought that he might not be as keen on it, but I never expected him to make a protest!

He didn’t seem very fond of the main song for “ABC Signs”.  I was relieved to find that he was more willing to sit through “Family, Fun and Feelings” and “Move and Groove”.  He wasn’t crazy over them (like he is with Baby Signing Time - where his attention would be totally riveted towards the TV), but at least he didn’t squeal in protest when I played them.

Personally, I quite enjoyed the music from “ABC Signs” and “Family, Fun and Feelings”.  I wasn’t crazy about “Move and Groove” but it wasn’t that bad either.  When I watched the three new DVDs, I felt they were somewhat “flat” compared to the Baby Signing Time DVDs.  Of course, these three DVDs are intended for an older audience, being designed for older toddlers, but I still found the Baby Signing Time DVDs much more engaging.  The songs were nicer, the layout was better, the mood was livelier, and even Hopkins (the frog) looks cuter.  The overall package of Baby Signing Time was just well put together.

Criticisms aside, I did walk away humming the new tunes in my head so I guess the music did rub off on me quite well.  I could also remember most of the signs by the second run through of the DVDs, so I guess they were pretty effective.  Unfortunately, not quite as effective with Gavin since it doesn’t catch his attention the way Baby Signing Time does, and well, you can only learn so much if your eyes aren’t even look at the TV…

Oh well… perhaps he’ll enjoy them more when he’s a bit older?

Popularity: 7% [?]

After being reinspired by those Signing Time home videos sent in by mothers who taught their babies to sign, I decided to dig out the Sign Language book I bought some time back.  I was reading the chapter on “Birth to Three Months”, which I skipped the last time because Gavin was already four months old by the time I bought the book, and there was a mention of something really interesting referred to as “The Secret Language of Babies“.

You can click the link to read more about it, but here’s the gist of it.

From birth to the age of three months, all babies have instinctive sound reflexes that mean specific things.  If their parents don’t respond appropriately to the the sounds that they make, they eventually stop using them.  These are the five sound reflexes apparently all babies are born with:

1. “Neh” - means “I’m hungry”
2. “Owh” - means “I’m sleepy”
3. “Heh” - means “I’m experiencing discomfort”
4. “Eair” - means “I have lower gas”
5. “Eh” - means “I need to burp”

These are the pre-cry sounds that all babies make before they launch into full scale crying.  If you catch them early, you tend to your baby’s needs and head off the crying bouts.  The Secret Language of Babies was discovered by a mother from Australia called Priscilla Dunstan.

I’ve read before in books that babies have specific cries to mean specific things that their parents will eventually learn to pick up but never have I ever read a book that told me what specific sounds meant what.  One of my biggest concerns as a new Mum was that I wouldn’t be able to figure out what my baby’s cries meant.  I sort of figured I would use the old “try until you get it right” tactic that goes something like:

1. “Do you want Mummy to hold you?”  If no, see 2.
2. “Are you hungry?”  If no, see 3.
3. “Do you need to change your diaper?”  If no, see 4.
4. “Do you need to burp?”  If no, see 5.
5. “Are you sleepy?”

Well, you get the drift…

I never quite got to the point where I could discern certain sounds with certain meanings.  Well, looks like this little gem of information isn’t a complete waste since I’m planning to try it on baby number two to see if it works (Aileen, maybe you can try it first and tell me if it worked for you, or anyone reading this post who’s about to have a baby).

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