jun, 23rd - stop the press...a word has been spoken...

[Today in the Park....gorgeous weather!]

day 132:

Limi definitely said MAMA today! to her it was just a sound that she tried out a couple of times....to me it was the result of hours of training :) (I've tried to be fair and say dada to her as much as mama...but hey, i may have slipped a few more mamas in on occasion.) in amongst the general babble and bird noises...it's very cool to hear a word you recognise. 

it will be so exciting when she can communicate. we haven't decided yet whether we're going to give baby signing a go. in theory it seems a bit kooky for us but then in practise, it's no different to the way that most parents communicate with their babies, like teaching a baby to wave when you say bye bye or clap when you say Hooray....so, although i don't think that we will be too strict about it all, i think that we may give it a try with a handful of words like:

• hungry - take your palm and circle it around your stomach
• sleep - with an open hand, you touch your fingers to your thumb in front of your eyes
• bed - cup the side of your face in your palm and tilt your head
• book - palms together, open them like you are opening a book
• cold - you make two fists and shake them at shoulder height
• drink - put your thumb up to your mouth
• eat - touch your fingers to your thumb and put the tips to your mouth
• more - with your one palm facing towards your chest, tap your other palm to the top of the hand

this is a great site for looking up signs.


some words that i didn't find that i will just make up:

• hot (weather) - open palm fanning my face (red cheeks and perspiration optional)
• swear word - hand across mouth to stop it coming out aloud
• gently (as in...pulling hair; wrestling with other babies; raking those fast growing finger nails down my arm) - stroke cheek with fingers
• oops (as in 'oops, we forgot to buy more nappies'; 'oops, you just threw-up on my shirt'; 'oops, you just threw-up on my friend's silk shirt' - extended fingers held to mouth with wide eyes

we will probably need to print out some pics or A. and i will end up teaching her completely different signs and insisting that she's hungry when in fact she wants us to read a book!