First Signs

From the first days in Vietnam we have been trying to teach Jacob baby signs in hopes that it would help us to communicate with each other. He just wasn't interested or was to stubborn to try. Finally one morning we got him to do the sign for "more" we praised him and celebrated his new skill. I had become hopefully that he was finally catching onto what we were trying to teach him. Then the following meals I tried to get him to use the sign with no success.

Several days later my mom and I took Emily and Jacob shopping at the mall. My mom being a mother of four and a grandmother of now eight decided that she could get Jacob to use the sign. She was desperately trying to get him to sign that he wanted more fish crackers while we were shopping. She tried everything. She even tried having Emily do the sign for more and then give her a cracker. All that did was make Jacob very mad because Emily was getting crackers and he wasn't. I am not sure if I have mentioned before that Jacob has quite the temper if he doesn't get his way. Needless to say for the sake of the people around us shopping that day Jacob won this round.

We continued using the sign and saying the word and one afternoon at lunch out of the blue he began to use the sign again. This time I also was able to get him to use the sign for milk as well. He is now finally using them consistently. Over the weekend we went out to dinner and Jacob finished off all of his milk - his drink of choice. He then persistently kept signing that he wanted milk and I had to show him that the cup was empty. It them became a game that he would sign for milk and that I would show him the empty cup and say all gone.

Tonight we went to get a quick dinner before going grocery shopping. He did not want to eat his dinner. Which is Jacob's stubborn side coming though since he loves to eat. Emily had eaten half of her dinner and was asking for her milk (This is a family rule with our little ones. They need to eat at least half of their meal before getting their milk so they do not fill up on milk alone.) So once he saw his sister getting milk he started to sign for his milk. He was not to happy when we told him he had to eat some nuggets before he got his milk. He wasn't happy but he did eat some bits of his chicken and then he drank the whole container of milk.
Who would have thought Jacob would try and use the signs we are teaching him against us!

We have also introduced the signs for please, thank you, water and juice. As he masters these we will show him additional signs. He is also starting to say a few words. Bye, ut oh, no, he also tries to say dada and mama as well. I also think he is trying to say Em for Emily. Today I am almost sure that he said I did it! It is amazing how far he as come in such a short time!