sign sign sign

Ok, I have to take a minute to gush about my sweet little boy. Since his gateway sign and initial breakthrough, Colden's signing avalanche has only snowballed (pun intended). Lately during speech therapy we've been working on animals and Colden has added horse and bunny to his card catalog. If you can count spider as an animal, that's on his list too- he can sign along with you to the entire song of 'itsy bitsy'. Yes, it's true. He's also learned the sign for car and uses it for any vehicle like bus or truck. I recently started to work on body parts with him and just a few days ago I realized he'd made the connection for mouth. Ohh and he knows the sign for daddy. It's seriously amazing. I've been trying to get a bunch of these new signs on video, but like any typical 17-month-old, this child does not perform on command. Catching him at the right time is key. After a nap or two I happened to snag these videos of our little signing star.

As a signing refresher: 

doggie: pat on the knee/thigh
baby: cradle your arms like you're holding a baby
sleep: hands on your face like you're sleeping
up: hands in the air
kiss: lean in (Colden kisses with his forehead)
horse: index finger and thumb together on top of your head to resemble a horse's ear
spider: fingers together on both hands, then twist
bus/car: hands on a steering wheel and moving them like you're driving

In this video he actually tries to say 'up' the first time instead of signing. Too cute. At the end of the day we want verbalizations anyway. During speech we've been working on two word combinations, one of them being sleeping baby, which is why I think he signs baby at the end before bye bye.

In this second video he makes an unprompted association. While playing with the barn and farm animals he signs horse. 

What a smart little cookie we have. We're so proud of you, Colden.