Signing

13 months seemed to leave Eleanor feeling frustrated with everything life threw at her. But sometime in mid July, all that changed! We think something that has really helped is that we've taught her a little bit of ASL (neither one of us signs, we're learning along with her). I always meant to, but I never stuck with it when she was younger.

This summer, she seemed so frustrated that I thought it might help her to be able to communicate more (her verbal vocabulary is moving along, but still really limited like most kids her age). She LOVES it, and she's soaking it up like crazy. I would list all the signs she knows now, but I can't even think of them all. A few favorites are: book, dad, eat, milk, all done, and dog.

Signing has led to a few funny situations, too. "All done" was one of the first signs she learned, but she quickly extended its application beyond the intended "all done with dinner/milk/bath." She signs "all done" whenever you are doing something she doesn't like. Loading her in the carseat? All done. Lay her down to change her diaper? All done.
She also made friends with an older woman in a restaurant who apparently speaks ASL. She saw Eleanor signing "Dad" repeatedly at Richard and then at the restaurant in general, just for good measure, and she approached our table and signed to Eleanor that she's not a Dad, but she is a Grandma. Eleanor was very pleased.
This week she learned to sign "thank you," which I think is adorable and charming. It's funny how much a small number of signs has helped - it feels as if it turned a valve and released a lot of pressure she was feeling "I need to communicate with you and I can't!"