Signing up a Storm!

Miss Mega (who just turned 2) has been signing up a storm - and signing about storms - every day.  Her toddler energy is amazing!  Every day she adds both new words and new signs.  Her spoken languages (mainly Japanese and English) often leave us wondering what words she is trying to pronounce so we rely heavily on the signs she uses to help us untangle this web.
It is very common for bilingual / multilingual toddlers to mix spoken languages - even in the same sentence.  Mega also mixes ASL signs with her two main spoken languages.  As toddlers grown into preschoolers they will naturally separate and isolate both spoken and signed languages.  This adorable (and sometimes frustrating!) time of mixing languages is super cute so we are trying to catch some of the conversations on video.

A conversation on a rainy morning...

A typical morning conversation...

Mullberry Bush サインで読める絵本

There are many books that you can read even if you know just a few signs.  One of the favorites at our house is Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush from the Child's Play Classic Books with Holes series. 

サインで読める絵本

Here is a video clip of Mega reading the page with bath and brushing teeth.  She is 21 months old in this video and uses ASL signs along with spoken words.  Since she is still young her pronunciation is not great but thanks to the signs it is easy to know what she is saying!

Signing at 19 Months Old

I'm digging through the videos on my computer to find examples of signing.  Here are a couple of my daughter at 19 months old.

Vest From Friend

Reading Baby Siging Time Flashcards

乗り物のサイン Vehicle Signs

Here is Mega using some of the transportation signs we learn in the Baby Signing Time class. She uses them every day while playing with her big brother!

Blabber Hands ;-)

Who knew that a 14 month old could have so much to say?

Today, this week, the past few weeks really, little Miss Mega has turned into blabber hands. She speaks a few words too like dozo, dada, mama, iyaiyaiya. Her real talent though is in using her hands and expressions to communicate. At times thou it gets tough because she wants to talk almost constantly!

This evening as we were all sitting on the couch watching the news, Miss Mega noticed that Daddy had fallen asleep. She pointed at him, signed cry and sad, and pointed again. I said that he was sleeping. She signed "daddy" "night-night" and then shook her head "no". She then crawled over to give him a kiss and a hug to wake him up.
Today she also came to me signing "more" "hat" and pointed at the clip in my hair. I asked if she wanted a hair clip and she took off to find one, came back and gave it to me. Between signs and pointing we had a fun 20 min. of doing and redoing what little hair she has.

Here is a not complete list of signs she uses on a daily basis right now:
more, where, point (there/that), eat, drink, cracker, grape, berry, banana, milk, water, all done, potty, play, please, thank you, bath, wash hands, brush teeth, dog, bird, hat, shoes, backpack, open, rain, bye-bye, cry, sad, train, plane, Baby Signing Time, Leah, book, pray, yummy
In case you don't feel like counting that is about 35 words. There are more words which she pulls out from time to time, giving us a little surprise each day as we are never quite sure what she will say next!

Here is a short video from lunch today...

Airplane Fun

My kids love to play together. However, being almost 3 years apart in age can make that a challenge at times. Thankfully they can communicate by signing with each other!

In this clip you can catch Miss Mega, 13 months old, signing "more", "share" and "airplane". I think she tried to sign "fly" in there too but it is hard to tell as many of her signs are just developing. She also says "dozo" when she signs "more" which is Japanese for "please do it" in this situation.

At the end of the video, when the plane flies a little too close for our comfort... no one was hurt but mom and dad had a little heart attack ;-)

13 Month Old Signing "Train"

This is a recent clip from a family outing in which you can see my daughter signing "train".  While her technique is not perfect (and it doesn't need to be... she'll do it right eventually) she is able to communicate by letting us know what she is looking for.  She also knows the signs for "car" and "bye-bye" but ignores me as she is still concentrating on finding that train!


Other signs which she currently likes to use include: thank you, please, more, all done, airplane, bye-bye, sleep, what, where, milk, water, banana, eat and brush teeth.

From Hat to Daddy

This week Miss Mega added "hat" to the list of signs that she can do.  It was the first sign using the top of her head.  Not too long after she surprised me by starting to sign "Dad/Daddy" too!

At 11 months old she uses:
☆wash hands手荒い☆brush teeth歯磨き☆all done終わり☆moreもっと☆dogいぬ☆ballボール☆point指差し☆bye-bye☆water水☆eat食べる☆crackerせんべい☆bananaバナナ☆night-nightねね☆babyベビー☆hatぼうし☆Daddyパパ☆bathお風呂☆shoesくつ☆

11ヶ月で At 11 Months...

Today I had the chance to catch some of Miss Mega's signing.  She has started to consistently sign to communicate.  So far she uses:
☆wash hands手荒い☆brush teeth歯磨き☆all done終わり☆moreもっと☆dogいぬ☆ballボール☆point指差し☆bye-bye☆water水☆eat食べる☆crackerせんべい☆bananaバナナ☆night-nightねね☆babyベビー☆

The following are 3 short video clips which show how she is signing.
With daddy:


Signing Ball:


Signing at Home...

Now that there is Signing...

Once a baby learns to sign the personality comes out in a new way.  Our mealtimes have started to include a game of "Where's the water?" at the end.

サインを始まった! We have a signer!

Finally caught it on video... My daughter has added "baby" to "bye-bye" and "hello" as signs she uses regularly. Yesterday she got creative and signed "baby" while holding the DVD remote to let me know she wanted to watch Baby Signing Time.

Pre-Signer

Before we speak, we babble...

Before we babble, we listen.

It is the same with babies who are learning to sign.  Before they make clear signs they will move their hands around in an attempt to sign.  Even before then they will react to other people signing.  A smile, a squeak, reaching for the signing hand... these are all reactions that my 5 month old has when she likes what we are signing.  Take a look...

I sign "milk" to ask if she wants some and in response she gets excited, reaches for my hand and puts my finger in her mouth to suck.  When she isn't hungry she'll either push the hand away or turn away.

The other day the 5 month old was on the floor making noises and movements which my husband didn't understand but 3 yr. old big brother knew what she wanted and was able to help by telling daddy that the baby wanted to be picked up.
Signing is a great way to help siblings communicate too!

In The News...

Did you catch this on Christmas Eve?
It aired in the US on NBC...
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/40906933#40805882
While the classes seen here are not Baby Signing Time classes it is still the same idea... teaching ASL, a real language, to babies so that communication is smoother.
We are living proof that signing with babies works. :-)

グー・チョキー・パー

Here is a Japanese kids song which we have adapted for reviewing signs...

As you can see both kids love it!

The words are simple...

グー・チョキー・パー

グー・チョキー・パー

なにつくろ？

なにつくろ？

みぎては＿＿で

ひだりては＿＿で

＿＿（手話の名前）＿＿

2x gu-choki-pa (rock paper scissors)

2x nani tsukuro? (what can you make?)

migi te wa _(name shape)__ de  (right hand makes ___ shape)

hidari te wa __(name shape)__ de  (left hand makes ___ shape)

___(name of the sign)____

A 手話 Song

Recently we had a concert night at church which included a "sign along" section.  This is a kid's song about favorite colors of crayons and how those are the ones that get used up first.

This song is Japanese, with Japanses Sign Language (手話) and not ASL.  It is interesting to see what signs are similar and which ones are different.  Of course knowing Japanese helps greatly...

Another Little Signer

This link was shared by another Signing Time Academy instructor. She posted on her blog a video of her son's experience riding in a car with the top down. Thanks to sign language He's able to "talk" about it with his parents in the next car!

4th of July

In just a few hours it will be the 4th of July so to help those of you who celebrate...

A Signing Moment

While we were getting ready to go to the park this morning my son was standing in the genkan talking and signing to himself. Here's the little bit I caught on video.

2 yrs. 5 months old

Signs used: restaurant, helicopter, firefighter, airplane, bye

Our Signing Time Top 3

My 2 yr. old has long mastered the Baby Signing Time DVDs. Since he comes to class with me every week now we rarely watch them at home. Instead, we've moved on to Series 1 of the Signing Time DVDs.

Here youtube clips from are our top 3 favorites:

3. Signing Time! Volume 11 : My Neighborhood

If you ask my son why he likes this one you'll get a one word answer - firefighter. As the title says these are the signs you'll use when talking about the world around you. Giving names to jobs and buildings is a great way to increase vocabulary!

2. Signing Time! Volume 8: The Great Outdoors

We watched this first when my son was about 18 months old. Soon after that we took a trip to my hometown and these signs handy! He used "explore" at my Grandma's house to tell us he was taking off to get the lay of the land.

1. Signing Time! Volume 9: The Zoo Train

A must-see before your next trip to a zoo or aquarium! Again, we got this when my son was about 18 months old but I wish we would have bought it sooner. He learned the animal names very quickly. He continues to use many of the animal signs as so many of their names are difficult to pronounce in either Japanese or English.

One warning though - the ♫Zoo Train♫ song will get stuck in your head! ☺

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear

In class we use the Sign and Sing Along book "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear". Here is what happened at home one day after class!