Everywhere a Sign...

So, Rob and I are planning to teach the children sign language as part of their homeschool experience. Like most things we do around here, we started it on the spur of the moment. We really want them to regain the signs they lost as they began talking and be able to converse with their grandpa.

Well, the way we've been teaching them is the same way some friends of my parents taught their children when they had a daughter who was born deaf. If you want something, you have to sign for it. The boys are recovering some signs and now know coffee (mommy is an addict), pop gun, lemonade, bicycle, stroller, ice cream, and several others. We already own a sign language dictionary and checked out a more extensive one from the library. They run up to us and ask us to find signs for them. It's so neat to see them eager to learn.

Our method has already started to backfire, b/c Matthew is just a little too smart for his own good. He ran up to me tonight and asked what the sign for "bicycle" was. I looked it up, showed him, and he showed it back to me. Then he said, "Okay, I did it! Can I go ride mine now?" Next he'll be asking what the signs are for candy, new toy, and no bedtime are....

In other news, Miss Anna is a VERY LOUD little girl. She loves to play in her exersaucer and yell at us. Rob taught her how to yell and she does it all of the time. I think she's competing with the boys, because she yells the most when they are loud. They have taken to playing with her and making her laugh while she's in the thing. Ben has not been hostile toward her for a long time, and I think it's because he no longer sees her as a threat, but as a toy. It's a good thing the Lord made her a big, sturdy girl! He likes to spin her around in her exersaucer and she loves it! I almost stopped him, but when I saw how much fun the two of them were having, I didn't intervene. They are bonding and I want them to be great friends. She's just such a happy girl!