My signing toddler! - Toddler Sign Language

by Kayla Beard
(Battle Creek, Michigan, United States)

I started signing with my son, who is about to turn 18 months, only a few weeks ago. 2 weeks max!

I know I'm not the only parent who hates giving in to the little whining noise a child makes when they are asking for something but don't know the word and or just can't say it yet.

I immediately started with the sign for "more" since that is usually the time when the whining noise starts.

Then we learned and taught the signs "thank you", and "please".

His grandmother taught him "cookie" one day (just like grandma's!! haha) Today we learned "eat" and we will be working on "drink" in the next few days.

He loves to sign and catches on so fast with all the new signs. He loves signing because he can tell us what he wants and most of the time he will get it, like a cookie haha

We give him lots of praise when he signs instead of whines! That makes him excited too; you can just tell he feels so much relief being able to "talk" with us.

I would say 5 signs in 2 weeks is pretty good!!


Note from editor: Thank you for such a wonderful story, Kayla! Your little guy certainly is a lucky one to be able to express his feelings and thoughts so much earlier than most babies can. We'd love to see and/or post a signing photo or (cell phone capture) video clip!