Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Communication

Motherhood comes with a lot of doubt.  There are three things I have done that I have no regrets or questions about: 
  1. Breastfeeding
  2. Making Hayden's food myself
  3. Teaching Hayden sign language
I think teaching him to communicate his basic needs (and then some) has alleviated a lot of the stress that comes with meal time.  I started signing with Hayden constantly around 6 months and he did his first sign at 9 months, "milk."  I was so happy when he was able to tell me he needed something and eliminated the guess and check that accompanies an infants cries.  Hayden quickly picked up all the signs associated with mealtime, "more," "eat" and "all done."  Being able to communicate allowed Hayden to tell me when he was hungry, when he wanted more of one thing or something different and tell me when he was full.  

Now, he still signs, everything from "eat" to "monkey" and accompanies the signs with words.  He says about 50 words and 10 phrases, I think his success in communicating early has really motivated him to express himself verbally.  I am still working on speaking toddler, I usually have to hear something a few times to know what he is saying, but we are working on it and only getting better as time goes on.

1 comment:

  1. I have done all 3 of these with my now 18 month old daughter, and I couldn't agree with you more!!! :)

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