How Old to Begin Baby Sign?

I saw a video of a three month old doing a single sign on YouTube when my girls were about a month old. At six months most babies have the motor control to begin signing, but I figured that it couldn't hurt to take advantage of these rapidly growing minds to expose them to signs earlier. By three months they were signing milk (one hand opening and closing as if on a cow teat), and soon they picked up diaper (both hands pointing at the waist), and mother (an open vertical hand with the thumb touching the chin, and moving away from the face.) The latter was better by five months because they could open their hand easier.

They have also learned other signs including book, more, father, play, bath, toys, hurt, up, and so on. The great part is that they don't get easily frustrated because they can communicate their basic needs. Also, we top them off with formula if they are still hungry after nursing, so they came up with their own signs to differentiate between breast milk and bottle milk. They also came up with other signs as needed.

Babies understand far more than they can communicate, and it's a long journey before they can clearly verbally communicate all of those needs. Aside from being very tired, sick, or late for feedings, these girls are quite happy and content. I think that any parent who wants to avoid frustration caused by early communication barriers would consider giving babies this communication tool. The real key, however is listening/watching. My girls will cry if I don't respond to signs in a reasonable amount of time, so I make it a priority to pay attention to them. If I won't listen now, they won't communicate with me well down the road.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was both painful and blissful for me.

  I awoke to three cards from my little family, and beautiful flowers from my sweetheart.

 C left for meetings early in the morning, and returned to help me pack up the girls to visit my mom. We went to church with her, and since many people in her ward knows me, there was plenty of love sent our way. Some people I'd never met knew about "the twins," and came up for a closer look. My sister and brother were there, and once we returned home from church, another brother and family were waiting as well.

I fed the girls as soon as we returned home, and despite their sleepy state, they both were charmers the entire time. They smiled, cooed, giggled, and were a sheer delight with cousins, aunts, uncles, and their Nana. It was a very memorable and delightful day.

When we returned home I fed them again (every 3 hours, that is), and C brought me two warm oatmeal cookies with coconut almond milk. The final feeding and bedtime went smoothly because the girls were so tired from their exciting day. The painful part? While returning from changing Peanut's diaper in the car, my boot caught on the curb and a fall was imminent. I was holding Peanut with both arms in front of me, and so I just created a cage with my body to protect her from getting hurt. She came out of it unharmed, and I gently positioned her on the grass while I maintained my prostrated position on the sidewalk to catch my breath. My knees and shoulder took the brunt of the fall, so I limped around for the rest of the day, but said nothing of it except to C. Needless to say, I won't be jogging much this week.

In Case You Were Wondering What I've Been Up To...

One...

You're like a dream come true.

TWO...

Just want to be with you.

THREE...

Girls, it's plain to see, 

That

 You're

 The

 Only

 Two

 For

Me.

And

FOUR 

Repeat

 Steps

 One through three.

 FIVE...

 Make you want to fall in love with me.

If ever I should think my work is done, 

Then I'll start back at ONE...