putting signs together

[moominmolly]

Natalie is clearly trying to express more complicated concepts than she has signs for these days. For example, today, while she was in her high chair and I was at the table, and we were splitting a tub of hummus, we heard Sylvana upstairs making some noise and had the following conversation:

N: [BABY]
Me: Yeah, that's a baby! Do you hear a baby? [HEAR] [BABY]
N: ... [BABY]! *looks pointedly at me*
Me: Yes, I hear Sylvana upstairs. [HEAR] [BABY] [pointing]
N: ... *gets hummus on her nose*
Sylvana (offstage): Weh weh weh!
N, instantly: [BABYBABYBABY] [PICK-ME-UP]!
Me: Um, yeah! Baby.
N: [PICK-ME-UP] [BABYBABYBABY] [PICK-ME-UP] [BABY]!
N: [pointing]!
Me: ... Okay, let's go upstairs! *picks up N and heads upstairs*

At that point, before we even got up two steps, Natalie started laughing, because, FINALLY, thick mama figured out that she wanted to go play with the other baby.

Later on, the two of them discovered that if you sit on a blanket in the middle of a hardwood floor, one of the three adults in the room will drag you around making silly noises. (We didn't give them a sign for this. It's probably for the best.)

Comments

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOD the blanket-dragging is made of awesome.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

A TERRIBLE time for my camera battery to die, I tell you!

[sol3.livejournal.com]

Tis what got me in the habit of having two : )

[sparkymonster.livejournal.com]

*sobs hysterically*


FISH FISH FISH!

[veek.livejournal.com]

Yay! A Natalie story was a good thing, today.

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

I think [BABY][PICK-ME-UP][POINT] is a really solid way to say 'pick me up and take me where the other baby is'. That's so cool. Does she use a lot of points when she signs, or does she mostly stick the actual signs?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

She mostly sticks to the signs, but I've noticed her putting them together and/or adding in pointing when we don't immediately do the thing she wants. Like:

[FOOD]
...[FOODFOODFOOD]
.....[POINT!]

[dancingwolfgrrl.livejournal.com]

I've seen her use pointing a couple of times recently to indicate something far away: [BABY] [point] [BABYBABYBABY] to mean "over there, on the other side of this crowded room, I see a baby." Which makes me wonder if she understands that it's harder to discern what she's talking about in some cases than in others? So clever!

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

How does pointing usually wind up working with home sign?

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

They seem to point a lot, at least at first (as most of the data I've looked at closely so far is a pretty young kid). I was actually thinking about whether that might be a product of having someone giving you linguistic input (both verbally and manually) and not really having access to linguistic input; for the homesigners I'm sure it's easier to understand what someone is trying to say is when they point to it, and easier for others to understand them when they point.

[ceo]

Isn't this age great?

When Natalie starts talking for real she's going to be scary.

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

Are you training her to communicate, or is she training you to obey her every whim? Sometimes it's hard to tell. I think that makes it more adorable.

[harimad.livejournal.com]

Like the one dolphin saying to the other "I've trained the man to give me a fish every time I jump through a hoop."

[moonshadow.livejournal.com]

Yes, and everyone is VERY pleased with the arrangement.

I love your handle by the way.

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

We've had this exact discussion. It's unclear. :) She's testing us to see whether we'll obey her every whim, THAT much is clear.

[bloodstones.livejournal.com]

Have you taught her the sign for no? Is there a way to communicate to her that you understand what she's asking but won't give it to her? Or is she still to young for that?

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

we're certainly working on communicating that very concept right now. :) well, several variations:

for a while i've been repeating her sign and then holding up a finger to indicate "just a minute," e.g. i will get you the thing you want but not immediately. it's not clear to me that she has enough of a notion of time to support this, but i figure it's worth working towards.

recently i've started trying to introduce [not], e.g. she'll hand me something and sign [open] and i'll sign [not] [open] and hand it back-- if it doesn't open or i refuse to do it for her. not clear if she understands this either.

and, someone suggested asl [no] as good for the imperative "no" i.e. "don't do that." so we've started trying to use that.

she has in the past understood spoken imperative "no" accompanied by shaking the head; to the extent of going to do the thing we'd told her "no" about, stopping, shaking her head while giggling, and then walking away. but she either understands it inconsistently or, er, believes it inconsistently. sigh.

[pekmez.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I bet it doesn't take 2 babies to to play the going for a ride sitting on a blanket game. Just in case we turn out to have exhausted the wild wiggling tug of war with a pair of tights and a grownup game. :)

[diatom.livejournal.com]

i've been wondering: how extensive are your and your partner's skills/previous knowledge with asl? it seems, from what i've been reading, that there's asl, and then there's "baby sign", and they're not always dovetailing...yet y'all seem to be having pretty complete conversations with her, with both of you using asl.

i'm very interested in this idea, and your conversations are always delightful to read about. more info? did you take baby sign classes just before she was born, or had you been all l33t way before? *horribly curious* :)