First of all, if you're viewing via a reader, come on over and check out my adorable new blog layout! My sweet friend Tiffany was kind enough to fix me up with something fresh and fun...I just love it! Tiffany has an absolutely precious son named Maddox who is just one day younger than Manny. She takes the most amazing pictures of him and I just love her blog. Thanks so much Tiffany! :)
Now for a few questions. First, anybody do sign language with their baby? If so, what age did you start and what books and/or videos do you recommend?
My other question has to do with our crib. Manny has started chewing on the edge of it like a little beaver basically, and it's leaving marks. Aside from the fact that I'd rather him not ruin our crib, I'm starting to get worried about splinters. I know I'm not the first person to have this problem, so any advice? Is there any kind of protector I can put on the railings?
Thanks friends...Happy Wednesday! :)
I'll be coming back to this post for advice on the crib chewing. BG is doing that now too and it needs to stop!!
ReplyDeleteI love your new blog!!!
ReplyDeleteI love the new blog, such fun colors!! :)
ReplyDeleteLove the new blog design! As for the crib chewing, there are crib guards that you can buy from pretty much any baby store. They are usually clear and slip over the railing. I don't know how well they work because thankfully my little guy isn't a crib chewer.
ReplyDeleteLove the new blog design!!
ReplyDeleteWe bought crib covers at Babies 'R Us. They're WONDERFUL. We do a few signs with James. He knows "more," "eat," "milk," "no," and "all done." I started around six months but he didn't pick anything up until 8 or 9 months. Now he picks it up VERY easily. I have a book but I also google videos so that I can see it. Baby Einstein also has a sign language video. It's awesome watching them learn it!
ReplyDeleteLove the new design!
ReplyDeleteWe watch Baby Einstein. Max and now Crocker have picked up signs from it.
Love your new design!
ReplyDeleteI started teaching Harrison signs at 6 months, but he didn't really start signing them back until closer to a year. I almost gave up, but am so glad that we didn't. It really helps him communicate now and saves us both a lot of frustration. Plus, it's so darn cute! We just stuck to the basics (he knows eat, more, all done, please, & drink) and he even created a few of his own (night-night, prayer, and my personal favorite: I love you...where he pats his little heart...I could just die every time he says it to me!).
As for the chewing, I hear ya! We are on the lookout for crib guards, too. Not only is it ruining his crib, but when I pick him up from his naps he has stain and varnish particles ALL over his face and shirt, which I'm thinking can't be too good for him!
Love the new look. I love the "Baby Signing Time" DVD's. I babysat a girl who had them. She was 9 months old and was signing.
ReplyDeleteI have used Baby Signing Time with Scout. She sometimes will sign "more" but that is about all for right now! We are working on eat, drink, mommy, daddy, etc. but she does not sign them back yet! Also, Scout's crib came with little plastic covers for the railings, so I am no help with that issue! Love the new design!
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness! I love it! Your blog looks awesome! My son used to chew ob his crib for a while. I think it was just a phase. He stopped a while back. He did leave marks but thats ok.I figure I could just paint it later or something?.... seriously LOVE your blog
ReplyDeleteThe blog looks wonderful! I miss the pictures of your little Manny though ;) We started teaching Max a few basic signs around 5/6 months & he started signing back when he was about 10 months or so. I just picked up a SL book that was self-explanatory...I think any book will do. I am not fluent in SL, so the book was really for me to learn so that I could teach Max. He now (at almost 17 months) signs the words: more, please, all done, and eat. He also knows milk, which he hasn't really used since he started taking a sippy cup. I think signing is a wonderful way to communicate with your little one! It really helps them tell you want they need/want when they are unable to verbalize their needs/wants. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteOh looks so good!
ReplyDeletethe blog looks great hun!!
ReplyDeletei'm interested to hear if you start working on signing with your little guy! i bought a book to learn myself, i hope to teach my little guy to sign as well.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the new design! Clearly, by my own blog, I love me some black, white, and yellow! And I'm loving the pop of turquoise. What a cute combo! You're always so stylish :) hope your week is going well honey!
ReplyDeleteLove the new design!
ReplyDeleteYour new blog design is so cute!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is 2 now, but when we were going through teething, etc. we desperately needed crib guards. When I first started looking for them, all that I could find were the ones that snapped onto the beds. Our baby bed was a bit more decorative and the standard guard wouldn't work. BabiesRUs has some that you can order online that work fabulous! They come in several different colors and sizes. Below is the link of one example...
ReplyDeletehttp://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3521412
Lurveee the new design! Also, Jackson chewed on his crib for a short period of time and luckily he stopped. I know they make crib protectors (made out of cotton, maybe?) Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the shout out :) You are MOST welcome!!
ReplyDeleteNow for crib rail protectors...we finally got some off of amazon. I just searched 'crib rail covers' & a whole bunch popped up!! Definitely a must now that EVERYTHING goes in their mouth...including paint, wood, etc ;)
We used the DVD My Baby Can Sign. And I LOVED it! It was so easy and he picked up on it quickly. It will make your life so much easier!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your new design!
ReplyDeleteLove the new blog look - very cute! As far as teething goes, we had that same problem with my daughter when she was a baby...and I did NOT want her to ruin her crib - esp since we paid some good money for it and I intend for her to use it until she moves out (converts to full size). Anyway..found these covers at Babies R Us and they worked really well...here is the link
ReplyDeletehttp://www.toysrus.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3190434
If you do a search on the BRU website under 'rail cover' you will find several diff ones in all different colors.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE the new blog design!! Also, I did Baby Wise with Emery, and the Baby Wise 2 book says to teach sign language starting at 6 months, and it gives the basics signs to teach starting with "please". I'm probably not going to teach Emery even though I always thought I would be one of those moms haha...oh well :)
ReplyDeleteThe new layout looks great! Thanks for asking about the signing, my son Jay is a few months younger than your Manny and I have been wondering when to start as well. He had just started babbling a little bit, so I am thinking we will start spoken and sign language simultaneously. Keep us posted!
ReplyDeleteLOVE the new look!!! it is so fun!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do miss seein ghte pics at the header, I LOVE LOVE this blog design. It totally screams Sarah. Fer reals.
ReplyDeleteSigning- We started when Ava was 6 months with "more" and "all done". She picked them up super quick and then we did "eat" and "please" and "thank you" through age 15 months. She still does "please" every time. It cracks me up.
We started with Emma as soon as she started eating food with more, all done, milk, water... my friend uses the video's Signing Time and LOVES them. I am planning on getting them and doing more with Liam when he is born.
ReplyDeleteStart now and he will pick them up. Also we were told that they can be your own signs they do not have to be the "official" ASL sign
I'm starting to use BabySigns. It's so easy and while Vivian isn't really picking it up, she's starting to get the hang of it.
ReplyDeleteLOVE the new design!
BRU sells crib guards. They are basically plastic pieces you can slip over the crib to keep him from gnawing.
ReplyDeleteWe started signing around 8 months. He got "more" very quickly and we're just now starting to incorporate more signs. More is a great sign to start out with because it helps with feeding.
I highly recommend Baby Einstein My First Signs - it's how Jason and I learned, and we let Cooper watch several times a week. I've picked 1-2 signs to concentrate on, and once he gets those we move on.
I found my copy at Target - it was sold out almost everywhere online.
I use sign all the time because some of my students sign...so I did it with Cooper too. I basically started with the more motivating times---eating and play so we did "more, please, all done, eat, drink, milk, play, sorry". It was right around 6 months I guess that we started and he would do the more basic ones "more and all done" the most at first and then the others came afterwards. He is using them less and less now that his vocabulary and communication skills have improved so much, but I still see him pull them out sometimes. And like someone else said---they can be your own signs/signals for items/actions, etc. since you are just working on building communication..
ReplyDeleteCooper was never a crib chewer---he didn't mouth a lot of things now that I think about it but I have seen crib rail covers at Babies R Us. :)
love the new design! i started baby signs with my first daughter when she was around 11 months. we tried before that, but she wasn't really interested! she picked it up and did awesome! she now LOVES the show signing time and learns new signs all the time. i am getting ready to start with my other daughter in a month or so! good luck.
ReplyDeletetracy
www.theblessedlife-tracy.blogspot.com
I went to school for ASL so I never used a book/dvd, but I have heard that Baby Sign Time is FANTASTIC...
ReplyDeleteWe started with "more" around 6 months, doing the sign and saying it at the same time, and our son responded at about 9 months... he's now 15 months and can do: more, please, all done, food, water, milk, mommy, daddy,ball, hot, cold, thank you, fish ( which we do for goldfish crackers),book, monkey, where, and love.
the biggest thing is consistency... you can't just show them once or twice, and expect them to pick it up... and picking one sign at a time is probably easiest...until they are responding, then I found you can add more...
Love the new blog! Super cute!
ReplyDeletelove the new design. we have been doing signs with Eva since she was around 9 months. First "milk" which she picked up in a few weeks. Then we have been trying "more", "eat" and "done". She is kind of doing "done" but the others are works in progress. I was rea;;y good at using "milk" every time she ate - but now it is hard to remember to do the others. I think I am going to pick one and focus.
ReplyDeleteI love the new look!!! Super cute! Also, Jayden did that to his bed. I should show you a picture of the crib now. It's just major teething. But he never got a splinter. :)
ReplyDeleteWe did some signing. Just more, juice and a few other ones. As for the crib rail we took the bumper and tied it to the crib rails. We weren't using the crib bumper anyways then that way it was something soft for him to chew on. It didn't look the coolest but it worked.
ReplyDeleteOh and I love the new design. :)
ReplyDeleteVery cute new look!!!
ReplyDeleteCute design! I just do a little bit of sign language, enough to communicate a little. It's never too early. Start now! It'll take a while for him to catch on, but just keep doing it. My Peyton is a crib chewer. I hear there are rails, but I made my own. http://heathanddena.blogspot.com/2010/10/did-i-give-birth-to-beaver.html
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you are asking the sign language question. We are wanting to do this with our son, but we just don't know when or how. I can't wait to see what everyone suggest.
ReplyDeleteAli started signing to Ray pretty early! It helped so much with the tantrums. When he'd start to get frustrated we'd just say, "Ray ask for help" and he'd do the sign for help and then smile really big! Ali used baby sign language books and the reference book I had gotten my dad. Alison taught him a sign for everything and Ray would make the sign his own. Once he learned words for the signs he just dropped the sign. Alison and him would have conversations at night reflecting on their day and in the morning he'd tell her about his dreams! So cute!!
ReplyDeleteI love your new blog design! So stylish! Again, I'm not a mama yet, but the kiddos I used to nanny for (2.5yrs and 8 months at the time) used Baby Sign Time. The 2.5 year old knew several words...probably 12-15 signs. The 8 month knew milk, more, all done, please, and thank you. He picked up milk and "more" at 7 months even. So I'd say, start teaching him right away...couldn't hurt to start early! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind words on our blog. Your new blog design is really lovely!
ReplyDeleteI abosolutely love the new design.
ReplyDeleteEven though sign language for baby is becoming increasingly popular there are still a lot of people that don't know it or think that sign language is only for deaf people.
I found out about sign language for baby when I was three months pregnant and used it with both my babies.
Cheers
www.signlanguageforbaby.org