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Signing With Babies Chat #31, with Sarah Bingham of WeeHands
( www.weehands.com )
5/5/05

5 mamas in attendance

20:03:58 WeeHands HI THERE WELCOME TO THE SIGNING WITH BABY CHAT!  I'M SARA FROM WEEHANDS!
20:03:59 ourwiefamily I'm sick again ... sore throat and wondering if it's strep again.  Sigh
20:04:06 onthebrink Hi Sara!
20:04:07 ourwiefamily Hello Ssara
20:04:10 WeeHands Hi there!
20:04:15 WeeHands hi  ourwiefamily !
20:04:21 onthebrink how are you?
20:04:29 onthebrink small group this evening
20:04:43 WeeHands I'm good; just relaxing after throwing the kids into bed :D
20:05:01 WeeHands where are you  onthebrink ?
20:05:18 onthebrink in Florida.  and you?
20:06:12 onthebrink i've never used baby sign
20:06:30 WeeHands oh, nice! i'm just east of Toronto.  Do you have any wee kiddies?
20:06:39 onthebrink my daughter, emma, is 4.  she was an early talker (very clear by 9-10 months), so we didn't really get to it.
20:06:54 onthebrink john is 7 months and isn't talking, so i'm interested in the signing.
20:06:56 WeeHands My son is 4.5, born August 2000
20:07:09 WeeHands emma was an early talker!
20:07:14 onthebrink i love the age 4!  3 was the truly terrible part!
20:07:26 onthebrink yes, she was early with most everything.  john is normal.""
20:07:43 onthebrink normal is kind of a nice change - very laid back!
20:08:03 WeeHands do you think so?  my daughter is 2.5 and I'm having a hoot with her.  she is the happiest little thing and swings from being a ballerina to a pirate daily - aaarrrr!
20:08:28 onthebrink i thought 2 was awesome.  3 was a challenge for me.  4 rocks!
20:08:34 WeeHands maybe the second child is typically the laid back one ? is it them or us!?
20:08:44 onthebrink good question!
20:09:16 onthebrink so, is he a good age to start the baby sign thing?  i just pulled out the book today.
20:10:03 ourwiefamily I'm signing w/ Maria who's a little younger than John ... good age to start
20:12:30 WeeHands 7 months is a great time to start!
20:12:39 WeeHands what are you're little ones favourite things?
20:12:59 onthebrink um - nursing!
20:13:15 onthebrink do i just show him the sign as i say the word or do the action?
20:13:22 ourwiefamily I'm still debating on what sign to use for nursing ... milk or nursing or mom + milk
20:13:41 onthebrink oh, i need to grab that book and check out those signs
20:13:49 onthebrink is there a link with them online?
20:13:51 ourwiefamily yes, Nancy ... you just use the sign whenever you say the word
20:14:04 WeeHands show him the sign at least before, during and after.  talk about the activity and show the sign whenever you say the word
20:14:07 onthebrink hmm... i don't think i usually say nursing outloud - we just do it!
20:14:15 onthebrink ok, makes sense
20:14:16 ourwiefamily LOL ...
20:14:18 WeeHands www.weehands.com
20:14:30 WeeHands go to the signing links on the bottom of the page
20:14:44 WeeHands onthebrink that's funny!
20:15:19 onthebrink which link?
20:15:30 WeeHands my son actually tapped his chest with one fist for nursing.  for whatever reason we called nursing num nums""
20:15:34 WeeHands :)
20:15:35 ourwiefamily I guess I babble a lot to my kids, so when I am picking Maria up, I say are you hungry?  Do you want nanas?"   She has learned the word by sound and will quiet when I say it because she knows it is coming"
20:15:55 WeeHands she'll do the same thing when you show her the sign
20:16:03 ourwiefamily Now it's mostly that I have to get her to *look* at me when I am doing the sign ... usually she is busy burying her face in my shirt.  :)
20:16:26 onthebrink emma called nursing ah-na for some reason.  then, she switched to more" - as in "Emma, do you want more?""
20:16:27 WeeHands http://www.weehands.com/signinglinks.htm
20:17:04 WeeHands then do the sign on her, e.g., sign milk" around her hand"
20:17:04 onthebrink but which do i click on there?  there are 6
20:17:32 WeeHands one of the bottom ones, the ASL browser is great!
20:17:33 ourwiefamily one of them is signing times and that is the DVD series we use ... she has some neat clips from the DVDs on there
20:17:49 ourwiefamily I mean, on her website ... so we saw samples before ordering
20:17:57 WeeHands we LOVE signing time!
20:18:21 ourwiefamily Our family finally saw all 6 DVDs.  The kids are all just so excited to watch them and practice their signs.
20:18:22 onthebrink oh, looking at that now.  very cool!
20:18:56 ourwiefamily What has me cracking up is that my 4yog Elizabeth wants to talk sign all the time ... she will come up to me and sign w/o words and she will make up signs for any words she doesn't know.  So I'm stuck trying to read her lips and guess, lol
20:19:26 ourwiefamily But when she tells me a new sign she made up, she does it like Rachel on signing times ... so she will say, Look Mom, this is Cake ... see, it is like you are holding a cake.  LOL
20:19:26 WeeHands There's an online store in Calgary that is offering  limited time offer 10% off all Signing Time! DVDs and videos http://www.signingstore.ca
20:19:41 onthebrink so what words do you use for nurse?  i don't see breastfeeding and nurse seems to apply to a medical professional.
20:19:57 WeeHands ourwiefamily that's adorable re your 4 year old - I'd love to see that!
20:20:04 WeeHands hi terrie!
20:20:21 WeeHands too funny  ourwiefamily
20:20:26 WeeHands you should tape her!
20:20:54 signingminionmaker Hey!!
20:21:16 signingminionmaker what are we taping?
20:21:21 ourwiefamily it would be fun to tape her ...
20:21:33 ourwiefamily my 4yo daughter making up her own signs because she wants to talk sign all the time
20:21:53 ourwiefamily She will show us just like Rachel does on the ST dvds ... see mom, this is cake" like you are holding a cake"
20:21:57 signingminionmaker my triplets are starting to do that but they teach each other and don't teach us
20:22:37 ourwiefamily The kids are itching to pick out Name signs ... I need to get that book that was mentioned last time.  I haven't made it to the library yet, though.
20:23:48 ourwiefamily Wanted to mention a find ... there was an ASL cdrom at Target for $1!!
20:24:04 signingminionmaker ah I wish we had a Target
20:25:03 ourwiefamily Terrie ... too funny about your triplets teaching each other signs and not telling you.  How old are they again?
20:25:08 onthebrink wow - awesome find!  clearance?
20:25:11 signingminionmaker 21 months
20:25:25 ourwiefamily Nope ... it is in the dollar section!!!
20:25:35 signingminionmaker Yeah all three of them have made up signs and they all do them and my hubby and I haven't gotta clue.
20:25:58 ourwiefamily It's called Interactive Sign Language Hypersign"  I think the brand is Palatine"
20:26:08 onthebrink oh, love the dollar section!
20:26:19 signingminionmaker Never heard of it.  Let me know what it's like
20:26:21 ourwiefamily It's Windows 95/98/Me/XP Compatible so I think that's why so cheap.
20:26:29 WeeHands what a great find  ourwiefamily !
20:26:38 WeeHands does it work well?
20:27:06 ourwiefamily It says it includes over 2000 basic ASL signs w/ instructional text in Spanish and English.  Features include full motion video, age level specific vocabulary, everyday phrases and a host of games and activities.
20:27:16 ourwiefamily (that was a quote) :)
20:27:33 signingminionmaker That sounds good
20:27:40 onthebrink very cool!
20:27:44 ourwiefamily I haven't used it yet ... this is windows compatible and we have a Mac as our main computer.  I need to fire up the old PC ... or I might bring it over to my sister's to try it out.
20:28:06 onthebrink what about diaper?  i want to sign for him when i change him or something in hopes that later he'd be able to show me when he needs a change.
20:28:11 ourwiefamily My kids are just eating up ASL right now.  So I *had* to get something more anyway and figured for $1 I couldn't really go wrong!
20:28:37 ourwiefamily I think you do no" with both  hands at the place where the diaper pins or tape or snaps would be."
20:28:53 ourwiefamily Is that a good way to describe it?
20:29:07 ourwiefamily As my daughter would say ... it's like you are tapping the place where the pins of the diaper are, mom.
20:29:10 signingminionmaker We use the sign for change.
20:29:47 onthebrink why no?""
20:29:56 onthebrink change makes sense?
20:30:09 ourwiefamily Well, it isn't indicating no" ... it's more like you are tapping"
20:30:29 onthebrink oh, ok
20:30:31 onthebrink got it
20:30:36 ourwiefamily Do you know the sign for no?
20:30:48 onthebrink so what are some basics i should start with?
20:31:20 onthebrink yes, i know no.  (funny sentence!)
20:32:36 ourwiefamily Well ... do you have a routine w/ him?  Like do you do certain things each day like a bath and eating?
20:32:42 onthebrink i was thinking:  something for breastfeeding, pain, food, sister, daddy, mommy... what else?
20:32:45 signingminionmaker sorry, trying to do a bunch of stuff at the same time
20:33:02 signingminionmaker milk, like milking a cow is good for BF and bottle
20:33:04 onthebrink our routine is basically:  nurse.
20:33:07 WeeHands try to sign things that you little one really likes (nurse, mommy, daddy, up, ball, book, dog) and pair these with signs for things that happen all day (change, diaper, eat, bath, sleep, etc.)
20:33:32 ourwiefamily Yeah ... what weehands said.  :)
20:33:35 onthebrink so do you all do the milking cow thing for BF?
20:33:41 signingminionmaker hey I was going to say something like that but probably not as good as that so maybe it was good that you answered that.
20:33:46 WeeHands