Play!!!

So, I have been working on teaching Lucy some baby sign language since she was about 8 months old. I started with the words "eat" and "more." Those seemed like the most logical to me. Well, after a few months of trying one day when she was about 11 months old she just did it, she signed "more." I was delighted to say the least, she soon followed with eat. Her tiny little hands can't quite make the exact positions, but she can do the movements and it is clear what she is saying. Since then we have added milk, which has now become the universal symbol for all drinks. I can't begin to tell you how great this has been, she can actually tell us when she wants something. That is invaluable to us considering when we started she couldn't verbally say any word but "doggie."

I also added the sign for play to our list. The sign for play is "y" hands held up and waived back and forth. Lucy's interpretation of this is to put her arms out bent at the elbow and waive her hands feverishly like she's trying to fly and to say "pa" really fast and with feeling. It's super cute and pretty darn funny. The thing is she does it all the time now because, you know, she's 15 months old and play is pretty much all she wants to do. She does it on the changing table, she does it in her highchair, she does it in her car seat, she even did it last night when I was putting her to bed and she was clearly exhausted.

I have also been working on the sign for "help" for a few months now, because when she gets frustrated and needs help she just lets out this ear piercing shriek that I have to say makes me come undone. Much to my chagrin she is not remotely interest in using the sign for help she just likes to use her shriek.

I love this kid.