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.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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For all the difficult times we go through with our toddlers, inevitably, there will be some good days that make us feel proud to be the parent of our child.  During such instances, I think it is a parent’s duty to stop and celebrate our child’s achievements so we don’t lose sight of the good things in our children when the trying times threaten to overwhelm us.

Yesterday, I took Gavin out to meet a friend of mine who is back from Russia for her Summer holidays.  We arrived early at 1Utama, so Gavin and I went browsing through the stores.  Fairly early on, Gavin spotted Starbucks and started pointing to indicate he wanted a hot chocolate.  I obliged and when I was getting the straw, he wanted one. 

After giving him the straw, I prompted him with, “What must you say?”

He immediately signed, “Thank you.”

Previously, whenever I wanted him to sign, “Please” or “Thank you” I would have to ask him to sign the words.  This was the first time he signed without being asked directly to sign the word.

I told him we were going to have lunch with my friend, V, and though he initially balked at the highchair, he later volunteered to sit in it on his own when V arrived.  During our entire lunch, Gavin sat patiently in his chair, feeding himself and entertaining himself.  He didn’t fuss and he didn’t interrupt our conversation.  It wasn’t until I finished eating that he wanted to get out of the chair to walk, to which he said, “Walk walk,” although it sounded more like “wok wok”.  He later signed “walk” as we were walking to the bathroom.

I was also pleased with his display of manners towards V.  When she was holding his water bottle, he signed, “please”.  V asked me what he was doing and I told her he was saying, “Please can I have my bottle back?” After she handed the bottle back to him, he signed, “Thank you.”  He did it all on his own without me having to prompt him.

As usual, he caught the attention of the waitresses who all remembered him from the days when my parents and I used to have lunch there.  And as usual, he was his charming self - smiling, waving, shaking hands, giving high 5s and blowing kisses.

I couldn’t have been prouder of how admirably he behaved.

Above: V, Gavin and me.

Above: Gavin, V’s friend and V.

Above: V and Gavin.

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Hubby had an old school friend, T, over for a couple of days.  While we were taking T around town, he related a story about how his nephew, J, was taught that whenever he entered the house, he had to take his hat off.  Ever since then, whenever anyone entered the house, J would pip up, “Hats off in the house!”  Even if they were just popping back into the house to pick up something they had forgotten, they would have to remove their hats to please J.

Recently, I have discovered that Gavin has picked up the same bossy habit.  Since he could walk and started wearing shoes, we have enforced the rule of “shoes off inside the house” and “shoes on if you want to go outside - no shoes, no going out”. 

A couple of days ago, Gavin started making a huge fuss and we ran to see what was happening.  He was watching our maid clean the porch and she had removed her slippers because she didn’t want them to get wet as she hosed down the porch.  Gavin kept squealing, pointing to the maid and signing, “shoes”.  He wouldn’t stop until the maid put her slippers back on.

I guess it was his way of saying, “No shoes, no going out!”

When you have a toddler in the house, there are no exceptions to the rules…

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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?

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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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One of the biggest concerns for children of today is the tendency of them leading sedentary lifestyles because they do not get out of the house often enough.  With technology to entertain them (TV, computers and various “indoor” toys), many children no longer get out to the park to play. They don’t climb trees or play in the mud (and thus get exposed to “germs” that help them develop their immune system).

Naturally, when Gavin came along, I was determined to make sure that he took after me and my love for the great outdoors.  Although I planned to take him rock climbing when he is old enough, I was going to start by taking him out to the park where he could play in the playground and take walks with me.  Already we’ve started taking him swimming which is a fairly regular once a week activity that he really enjoys.

As I started reading books on discipline, I also learned that taking your child out to the park is a great way to help him burn off excess energy that would normally get him into more trouble if it was otherwise unspent.  Part of the reason why young children start behaving “badly” (like digging into cupboards they shouldn’t or climbing objects around the house) is because they get restless from being cooped up indoors.  Effective discipline involves helping your child behaviour appropriately and you can help them do this by changing their environment - such as taking them out into the park where they can run, climb and explore to their little’s hearts’ content.

Well, Gavin is now 15 and a half months and he had his first experience at the park on Sunday.  I never took him there previously because the timing and weather never permitted it.  From the manner in which he was starting to drive up all up the wall by poking his head into cabinets he wasn’t allowed in, rumaging through drawers and moving objects around, I guess Gavin was long overdue for some park exposure.

So on Sunday, after sending his grandparents and aunt off at the airport, we took him to play in the park with his godsister.  There is a pretty cool park in Desa Park City near a very Australian-like shopping mall that we took the kids to.  Gavin fell in love with the slide instantly (although I would only let him slide down on my lap) and he kept wanting to go back up.  It was then that he said another new word - “up” - which I believe he learned partly from watching Hi-5 (the DVD with the theme of “growing up”) and from me, because I used to ask him, “Gavin want up?” whenever I thought he wanted me to pick him up.

He would say “up” to tell me he wanted to climb up to the top so he could slide down again.  Looks like the park did more than just help burn off Gavin’s excess energy - it was the catalyst that prompted him to communicate with us so he could get what he wanted.

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