Communication
The boys are working wonders with sign language! And as I mentioned last week, I’m pretty amazed since it’s been many months since we did it diligently. They get the signs a bit confused sometimes, but Forest understands the sign for milk well enough to use it at the fridge when he just wants in to play. Tricky except that his milk is sitting on the table just a few yards away. He has learned to use it for anything, yesterday asking for “more” outside and “more” coloring. I also have to learn how to say “no” to food requests now. One cookie leads to the “more” sign over and over and I have to announce “one more and then no more”. They also seem to have been reminded or remembered “eat”! So we have “milk”, “more” and “eat”. I’d like for them to learn “drink” to distinguish with milk but milk was so easy to do and it’s 90% of what they drink anyway.
Yesterday evening “mommy” and “daddy” suddenly smoothed into the mix. Forest gets daddy easily but mommy seems harder because of finding locations on the face and being specific. I have no doubt that they will have these two down by next weekend.
I am still amazed at how they understand various full sentences that I say, I’m guessing from previous context. They “get it” about so much now. To throw trash in the trash can. To use wipes to wipe themselves during diaper changes. To share treats with each other. To bring a sad brother his favorite stuffed animal.
I’ve learned that the secret at this age to getting them to do something they don’t want to do is to ask them to do it. For example, Logan is playing with the diaper cream and doesn’t want to stop chewing on it. So I ask him to “put it away” for me like a big boy. I pick him up and let him put the cream into the pouch that hangs over the door where it belongs. He feels like he did something accomplished and I didn’t have to take it from a screaming, kicking, angry little man. I don’t know how long this will last but I’m enjoying it while I can.
It’s crazy to think back to this time last year and the advances they’ve made in communication is a big part of that immense difference.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment