the depths of a toddler's memory |
[posted by bkmarcus] |
We were have a lot of trouble with Benjamin at dinner tonight. He kept yelling at the top of his lungs. After a couple of unsuccessful time-outs, we tried a different strategy: asking him to show us where different things were in the kitchen.
"Benjamin, where are the pots and pans? Good, now where are the bowls? Yes!" and so on.
Then I asked him, "Benjamin, where's the table?"
And instead of showing me where the table was, he looked at me and touched his hands together in a way I hadn't seen before. I asked Nathalie, "Did he just try to sign table?" She thought so. I said, "Benjamin, are you saying 'table'?" and I did the sign for him. He imitated the sign perfectly and pointed to the table.
We clapped for him, and he got more excited, alternating his own clapping with signing table and pointing to the kitchen table.
Part of the big deal for me is that I've been signing "table" for him for a few months now, with never any sign of recognition from him. In fact, I'd sort of given up. And then from out of nowhere he shows that he was taking in more than he let on at the time.
He did the same thing with the sign for "apple" — using it after I at least had sort of slacked off on demonstrating it for him. They remember more than you'd think, these little ones. Apparently he heard his grandmother and great aunt saying "wawa" during his visit to Kentucky last month. Again, no real sign of picking it up back then but a month later and he suddenly pulls it out of the storage in his brain and starts using it.
In addition to his new signs, he's also started imitating our words to an eerie degree. I asked his mother tonight if I should run him a bubble bath. "Bubba bath," he said.
As we sang him his usual bedtime songs, a couple of which include the word "petite," he suddenly said Puh Tee Tuh.
For a while, his language acquisition seemed to be on hiatus. Apparently, he's been brewing and stewing and is now ready to start dishing it out again.
Addendum: I've been signing "table" lately. Benjamin has been calling his water table "bath" and I'm trying to help him distinguish between the tub and the table.
posted by bkmarcus
2 Comments:
i am curious: why do you teach him sign language?
Researchers (such as Joseph Garcia who wrote _Sign With Your Baby: How to Communicate With Infants Before They Can Speak_) have found that babies can communicate with signs well before they are physically able to speak. (Benjamin has been able to ask for milk since he was 7 or 8 months old).
Garcia claims that teaching your child to sign will also help with the terrible two's because he won't be as frustrated when he tries to communicate. Signing also helps parents understand what toddlers are saying when some of their words sound too much alike.
According to a friend's pediatrician, signing also develops a different part of the brain than speaking. I haven't looked into that yet, so I don't know the benefits, but I must admit when I hear something like that I assume it's good. My impression, however, is that it will help his language acquisition in general.
Finally, there is always an advantage in knowing another language. I hope that the three of us can keep learning sign language as Benjamin gets older and eventually be able to communicate with people outside of our little sphere.
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