"More"

For those who know me well, you know how adamant I am about my children learning to sign ASAP. I have always loved sign language ever since my mother and I took classes during my school years, followed by the classes in college, and then the use of them with my deaf clients, autistic clients, and any child with speech impairments such as stuttering. I absolutely love the deaf community and if Tech would have had a sign degree, I probably would have minored or double majored with it. However, they did not but I still use it all the time. Nessa, I can still sign our "I Got You Babe" duet that we did in sign class! Aren't you impressed. And yes, I was Sonny and Ness got to be Cher. We had a lot of laughs at that one. Anyway, back on topic. I am teaching a Kindermusik class called Sign and Sing. It's awesome and so much fun. Raun is even taking it this semester so he can interact with Blake and learn the different signs. I mean, with all the research about how it improves speech and encourages early language development, and the added plus of them learning a second language that you can use when you need to communicate with them in silence, why not teach them? It lessens tantrums because they can communicate with you and tell you what they want or where they hurt. It's just incredible and we have been working with Blake on a few simple ones, such as "milk," "eat," "more," "ball," "play," and I add "silly" when Daddy comes around. So why am I telling you this? Because....our son communicated with us for the first time using sign this week! I was feeding him on Monday and he kept clapping his hands together, which is a common way for babies to sign more. I got really excited and encouraged him, but I wasn't for sure he knew what it meant. Well....here comes Kindermusik on Tuesday. Raun was feeding him puffs and Blake started signing "more." Raun wasn't paying attention so Blake got a little vocal to prove his point. I told Raun to watch him and he did it as soon as the puff hit his mouth in hopes that Raun would go ahead and put another one in there since he asked so nicely. Raun broke out in a HUGE grin! He was so excited to see that Blake had just spoken to him. I'm so thankful that Raun is willing to learn these signs. He has definitely seen a difference between the children that sign and the ones that don't with a few friends of ours that have babies that sign. He can't believe how much they can communicate and how fast they learn it. Not for sure which sign Blake will pick up next, but something tells me it will be either "milk" or "eat." Or will it be "Mommy?" Who knows! But he LOVES the sign for "bear!" That's the quickest way to make him laugh.

In Kayden news, he got to come home today. I ran by the hospital to give a base to Kelsey and they were so excited to be bringing him home. I can't wait to see that little man. I'll keep posting pictures when I get them...and I'm sure I'll have lots on Sunday to post! Welcome home, baby Kayden!

In sad news, Kayleigh (read previous post) passed away Monday. I know that she's in a much better place and all, but my heart hurts for her family. They were hoping to bring her home so she could pass away at home in her nursery instead of in the hospital. Please pray for them as they are also being foreclosed on and are having to move. If you missed the last post, click on their blog at the top of my page that has a picture of a baby with a wedding band on her arm.

We are going to be experiencing how to put down laminate flooring in the next couple of weeks. In anyone has any tips on this, feel free to share. We are really excited because then the downstairs will be finished, minus the bathroom which we hope to start later in the year. Then, we get to rip up the flooring upstairs and lay it down there. I'm so happy to be getting rid of the carpet and vinyl, but am not too enthused to be doing this project with a baby that just wants to crawl EVERYWHERE and get into EVERYTHING. Hopefully I won't stress out too much during all of this! I'll try to post some pictures in my next post. I have lots, I promise.