"Attention: this fence is electrified" and other signs

I've been meaning to archive Silas' list of signs for some time now. This list is incomplete, but it's better than just deleting it from the sidebar and forgetting many of the signs he once knew. He leaves each sign behind when he learns the vocalized equivalent. "Puppy" and "kitty," two of his most common signs, for instance, are only spoken now. "Bird," on the other hand, is still only signed. I have a feeling that "milk" and "more" will be the last to go.

(Incomplete) list of Silas signs:

Hat, banana, baby, computer, hot, fan, bear, ball, music, bib, pig, sheep, daddy, mommy, frog, puppy, bird, Hi/bye, book, drink/water, kitty, milk, more.

It makes me a wee bit sad to think that soon he will no longer use any of these signs. After all, it was the first way we communicated with him, and we worked really hard on it. It was such a joy to see him learn a new sign, just as it is thrilling now each time he learns to say a new word. I suppose it's sort of like when your child outgrows a once beloved toy. The child moves on and doesn't even notice, but the parent looks at the toy and realizes they've developed a sentimental attachment to it on behalf of the child. I love when he says "puppy" but at the same time, I miss how he would enthusiastically slap his hand to his leg every time he saw a dog. It's only a matter of time before he's speaking in complete sentences, doing advanced algebra, dating girls who aren't good enough for him, leaving for college...

More on the feeding and care of Mr. Bear

Just look at those teeth! With 16 teeth now, Silas can eat a lot of the same foods that we do. There have been a few surprises regarding what Si will eat or will not eat.

Here are a few things I was absolutely convinced he would love, but instead has rejected the multiple times I've offered them:

Peanut butter (go figure)
Cheese (clearly he was not born in WI)
Butter (Seriously, Silas?)
Scrambled or fried eggs (but boiled eggs are one of his favorite foods)

And on the list of foods I thought he'd hate but instead loves:
Raw broccoli
Fresh salad greens

He's already a better vegetarian then I am.

I was going to write more about language since he's been doing really well with that lately, but I think I'll save that for another post. Pretty soon, the list of signs I keep on the side will disappear since I haven't been updating it anyways. He has picked up several more signs, like thank you and scared, and he still uses baby sign often. However, we've been mostly concentrating on spoken words now that he seems ready to vocalize more.

So, in closing, I will leave you with an extra picture. It is strange because we've never emphasized gender specific toys, but regardless, he loves "boy" things like balls and vehicles. Here he is, fulfilling a gender stereotype, playing with his truck, or "cah" as he calls it:

September 08 Book of the Month

Announcing Planet Silas' September Book of the Month:

Hands are Not for Hitting by Martine Agassi ; illustrated by Marieka Heinlen.

This is a board book we've checked out from the library several times. Not only does Silas enjoy it, but we enjoy the advice it gives us in how to constructively redirect Silas from hitting when he gets overly excited or is in pain due to teething. It's easy to get frustrated when he hits or pinches or twists or squeezes. This book has been a lot of help in dealing with this. Now we tell him "Silas, hands are not for hitting. What are hands for?" And we can use an example from the book, or most often, start clapping our hands and get him to clap along. Seems much more constructive than just yelling "Nooo" at him.

Like many of the books that make the Planet Silas Book of the Month list, this book works for us because it's interactive. I've posted a few images as examples.

Below, the picture shows that hands are for "keeping safe." Silas is signing the "parent" sign (all big people are parents). And then signs "baby" for the little girl (all children are babies to Silas). And to top it off, there is a car in the picture. "Car" or "cah" is one of Si's most frequent vocal words, at the moment, and he'll be sure to point that car out to you. "Cah, cah, cah."
You can't really see it, but Silas is giving me a hug, just like the little girl in the picture. So sweet.
Hey Happy Camper, that's a good book, huh!
And our Honorable Mention is:
Teeth are Not for Bitting by Elizabeth Verdick ; illustrated by Marieka Heinlen.

See a theme here? I don't have any pictures of this one, but thought it worth mentioning. Similarly to Hands are Not for Hitting, this book helps toddlers and parents alike cope with the frustration and pain of teething and the behavioral issue (biting) that can result from that pain. This book is from the same series. I have a feeling we may be checking out other titles from that series in the near future. For instance, there's one called Tails are Not for Pulling. Hmmm.

August 08 Book of the Month

Announcing Planet Silas' August 08 Book of the month:
Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, Pictures by Clement Hurd.

I hesitated using this classic as the book of the month. After all, it is Goodnight Moon, the queen of all classic bedtime stories. It's sort of an obvious choice. But after many hours of deliberation between me and myself, I decided I wanted to use it, for several reasons. First, it is still considered by toddlers (or at least mine) to be an engaging and much beloved book. Silas often requests it (and not just at bedtime). It was also the first book that Silas got for completing Summer Reading at the Library last year, so it holds sentimental value because of that. Lastly, selecting this book opens the door for me to tell you all about a couple of fun Goodnight Moon parodies/discussions which some of you will love and some of you will hate (consider yourselves warned). The first is Goodbye Moon, which I first saw linked to Mr. Nib's blog. The second is Goodnight Bush, which I found out about from a mama on the Mother's forum I recently joined. Hee-hee-hee. I won't say anything more about these. You can follow the links and see for yourselves.

Silas contemplating the subtext and inner complexities of Goodnight Moon:
And, we have an honorable mention this month! It is:
Sam's Opposites by Yves Got.

Another frequent request by Mr. Bear, he seems drawn to the bold line drawings and characters. The only complaint I have about this is that there are A LOT of opposites. I will admit to skipping a few pages if I want to hurry the reading along a bit.

"I like this book, mom. Tee-hee!"

This book has become increasingly interactive as we try to act out some of the opposites depicted. Here, Silas is demonstrating the goodbye part of the Hello/Goodbye pair (he does the hello handshake too now).

And on a totally different and not so uplifting subject: I meant to write a separate post about this yesterday, and well, it just didn't happen. So I'm tacking it onto this post, as unfitting as it may be. It's all I seem to have energy for.

This has been a hard week for us. Not so much for Silas, who is his usual energetic and (mostly) happy self. Instead, his mom and dad are dealing with some stuff. Yesterday marked the 1 year anniversary of loosing our dear friend, teacher, and mentor, Robin. It still hurts. Robin was my professor in college as well as my Buddhist teacher, and I worked for him for a number of years. He initiated our wedding. He taught us (particularly me) so much. He has been on my mind a lot lately, not surprisingly. On top of that, a few days ago, we received news that Fernando, one of Drew's closest friends going all the way back to middle school, died suddenly. His funeral took place on the anniversary of Robin's passing. We are very grateful to Drew's mom for attending the funeral in our place, since we couldn't travel back to Wisconsin for it. So, just 8 years after our wedding, 2 of the people in our wedding party have died. So sad. :(

Parents, music, and sneezes

I assure you, nothing has happened to Silas' left arm. It's somewhere behind the Tibetan singing bowl he's carrying in this picture.

Right then, on to some of the other language things I've wanted to mention on the blog.

First up: mom and dad. These are two separate signs, obviously, but not in Silas' world. He uses the same sign (pointing to his forehead) for both of us, and for Patrick as well. For lack of a better word, we'll just call it his "parent" sign. What we've noticed him doing lately, however, is combine two different signs to differentiate between his mom and dad. He'll sign "parent" and "music" to indicate Drew, and "parent" and "milk" (go figure) to indicate me. He by no means does this all the time, but every now and then he will.

Another combo: Now that he's learned the sign for computer, he will sometime say "computer music" to indicate that he wants us to play music through the computer. And while we're on the subject of music, for a while now, he's signed music when he sees a violin or guitar or another instrument, but that's not surprising. What is, however, is that he's figured out that a musical score is also related to music, and so he will use this sign when he sees notes or musical notation as well. Huh. I don't think we taught him this, but he figured it out somehow.

One last thing for this post: He thinks it's the funniest thing when we sneeze and will try to copy the sound. Usually, it will come out sounding like "aaii-yaah" or "aa-taah." If we sneeze again, he'll just laugh.

And, your Saturday afternoon bonus shot: best buddies.

Say What?

Ever since I studied language acquisition as an anthropology major in college, I've been fascinated by it. For instance, did you know that someone once proposed an experiment in which parents would bring their toddlers to an island to live for a number of years and only speak a form of pidgin to them so that they could observe how a creole language developed. Brilliant idea in theory, but highly unethical in practice. Anyways, now I've got my own little experiment in language development running around the house. I've been taking lots of notes. Here are a few observations:

Silas still mostly signs rather than vocalizes. He is beginning to say a few words, and I'll get to that later. Sticking with signing, it's been great to see how it helps reveal the inner workings of his mind. For instance, let's take the word "bird." Silas signs when he sees birds or pictures of birds. But he also signs "bird" when he hears them. One warm evening, we were preparing for bedtime and the window next to the bed was open. Silas lay there and we heard birds chirping and so he signed "bird." Just a few days ago, we were outside and a small plane flew over us, rather low. Silas was really intrigued and his gaze followed it till it was out of sight. I told him it was an airplane, but he doesn't have a word for that, so after thinking for a while, he signed "bird." Well, it was flying after all, so it was a logical conclusion.

Similarly, Silas doesn't know all of the signs for every animal. Often, when a creature looks like it might be a kitty (like a bunny or a squirrel), he'll sign "kitty" and when it's a bigger unknown creature, he'll sign "puppy." I took him to the PAWS walk last Sunday, which is a dog festival of sorts, and its goal is to raise money for our local animal rescue organization. He was in seventh heaven seeing all of the dogs, and he signed "puppy" over and over again, until, that is, he saw a corgi. He looked really close at that little dog, which didn't quite look like the other dogs, and finally decided it was a kitty. Too funny.

One of the things that has surprised me, is Silas' capacity to understand that a representative image of something is the same as what it's meant to represent. Sticking with "puppy" again: One day, I saw him open a book to a picture of a dog. This was a cartoon image, rather than a realistic painting or a photo, but he still signed "puppy" when he saw it. Likewise, he knows that the stuffed dog I made him for his birthday is a puppy (though an adult at his party thought it was an aardvark). Like the example I gave with "bird," if Silas hears a dog bark, he'll sign "puppy." He doesn't have to see the dog--the bark is all that it takes.

One of my favorite signing examples is music. Silas LOVES music, so this was an important one for him to learn. He signs it when a song he likes comes on. He signs almost always first thing in the morning to indicate that he wants us to turn music on. He also has figured out how to turn the radio on. It's set to the classical station, so he will often push the "on" button, sign "music," and then sit there and rock to the beat. Because we often play music through our laptop, he now equates laptops with music. One day, we were next door and he kept signing "music, music." There was no music playing, so I wasn't sure what he was referring to, until I saw him pointing to Shannon's laptop.

We have a definite morning routine now, and we usually all eat breakfast together before I leave for work. As soon as I get up from the table and start to gather my things, Silas signs good-bye. I love this, as it's entirely unprompted (though in a way it brakes my heart).

One of Silas' most common signs is "book." He used to use this sign to show that there was a book in front of him, but now he will also sign "book" when he wants us to read to him. If we read a book and then put it down, and he wants us to read it again, he will give us back the book and sign "book" very insistently.

It's hard to say for sure, but it seems like every now or then, Silas has been putting two signs together. the reason this is difficult to determine for sure is that he often says two or three signs in a row because he gets confused and doesn't say the sign he really wants to say the first time. But still, there have been several occasions (and Drew could probably relate more) when it seems intentional. One day, for instance, Silas pulled out a book with a picture of a bird on it. He signed "bird" then looked at it and signed "bird book." Occasionally, it seems like he's saying "more something" like "more milk" or "more music." One glorious day, I came home from work and he signed "hello mom." That. was. awesome. But it might have been completely accidental. Either way, I'll take it.
And that segways into the next topic--the spoken word. Si's vocal words are limited, but recently, he's had a breakthrough on the parroting front. He has indeed tried to imitate "duck dog" several more times since I reported the first occurance of it on Sunday. He's also been saying "daddy" for the last few days, and it's sounding startlingly clear. He tries to repeat "mommy" when I say it, and sometimes he gets it, but it often sounds like "ba-bee" instead. I don't know why. He most definitely knows how to say "mama" and for several months has seemed to be directing "mamamamama" towards me when he wants me or wants something from me (see the happy baby picture of Silas in the orange jacket for an idea of how he usually looks when he says "mamamamama.") It's only been recently, however, that he makes efforts to say words like "mommy" or "daddy" in imitation of us. Other words he'll attempt to parrot include read, bird, baby, pee, and butt. That's our boy!

Naturally, it is very exciting to hear him repeat words, or even just sounds, back to us, but what I'm most amazed by is knowing that without signing, we'd still have almost no ability to communicate with Silas. How frustrating that would be for him and for us as well! We obviously are still working with a limited vocabulary, but what signs he does know seem to go a long way. I think about how many times he was able to tell me he wanted milk, or the time when he signed "bird" to me and pointed out a bird that I myself hadn't even seen, or the first time I finished singing him a lullaby and he signed "music" to indicate that he wanted me to keep singing. I am just so grateful to have this way to communicate with him while he's still learning (and still largely unable) to physically speak.

Saturday at the park with Silas

Silas had not one but two park outings today! In the morning, while Drew was at the library for a training, I took Silas to the Waterfront Park. We walked along the water, near the marina. I was able to point out many birds and dogs (two animals he now knows the signs for).
We then played on the tot swing for a bit. He's still figuring out what the swing is all about.
In the afternoon, the weather was so nice, we decided to take Silas to another great Bainbridge Island park, Battle Point.
Silas enjoyed a shoulder ride on the way to the playground.
He loves the slide and can basically go down on his own now.
This is the special needs tot slide. I've never actually seen anyone with special needs use it, but it's pretty cool that they have it. Silas knew to hold on right away.
Si's favorite thing about going to playgrounds is to watch other kids run around. I can see the gears turning in his head...before long, he'll be one of them...running, running, running.

It was a busy day for our little bear, and he crashed super early. Playing is hard work!

The Six Signs of Silas

As promised, here is the video showing the words Silas knows in sign. They are presented more or less in the order that he learned them.

So, there you have it. The boy says no real words vocally, though he is starting to parrot us more and more often, especially if the sounds we're making are goofy. For instance, Silas and his Dad do a great monkey impression. For a while, he'd repeat "uh-oh" to us, but we can't get him to do that anymore. The sign language, however, appears to be sticking. He learned all 6 of the signs you see in the video just after his first birthday, over a mere three week period.

Note that one of the signs he knows very well and had no problem learning is "kitty." So, he says "kitty" but not "mama" or "dadda." And believe me, we have tried to teach him to say mama and dadda both vocally and in sign. He doesn't seem that interested, but he'll catch on eventually. He does babble incessantly and the sounds mama and dadda come up a lot. He says "mamamamama" quite a bit, especially when he is complaining and wants something. At these moments, I delude myself into thinking he means what he's saying. Truthfully though, the context just isn't quite there yet, despite the fact that if you say "where's mama" or "where's daddy" he'll laugh and turn to the adult in question.

We are continuing to introduce new signs including bib, eat, doggy and of course, mama & dadda. Hopefully, he'll be adding these to his repertoire soon. Baby signing rocks!