(Lets face it kids are full of honesty, they say it as they see it. This is a new column written from the ‘HONEST’ observations from our children. It touches on all aspects of the process of growing up and how we as parents can improve ourselves from a child’s point of view).
I was doing some light reading the other day, well maybe Mum was on her laptop and she had me bouncing up and down on her knee. Despite feeling like I was bungee jumping due to mum’s extreme knee bouncing, I did manage to catch what she was reading. Sign language for babies, interesting indeed.
Apparently it is a useful way for toddlers to communicate until their speech picks up. I sign language to mum all the time, vigorously punching my fists in the air and trying to stuff the whole hand in my mouth means I want milk or every time mum looks at me lasciviously sticking my tongue out and licking my lips means I want milk. What else is there to communicate about?.
Dad had a good laugh about the baby sign language bit when Mum told him in the evening. ‘Silencio old man’, shows what you know, Mum’s always using sign language on you like putting the trash near the kitchen door, means take the trash out or keeping open magazines with the latest jewelry sales means buy her jewelry. Sheesh he never gets it! Mum and I communicate on a higher level than Dad it seems, our hearts beat as one, she is my pumpkin pumpkin and I’m her honey bunny…toko toko…love that song!!!!
Well looks like we have a whole new year ahead of us, lots for me to do, got to do some serious growing, will probably be turning one in about nine months, sheesh I’m getting old! But at three months now I am doing okay I guess, so glad my head’s not as heavy anymore and the good old neck is getting stronger, it’s so difficult to get people to take you seriously when you’ve got a wobbly head, kinda kills any conversation with my head rolling around.
Also have got my own language going, I coo and gurgle, Mum thinks I’m adorable and even Dad can’t help smile when he hears me at it, yep guess he’s a big softie after all. My eyesights definitely improved a lot since last month for Mum put in a crib mirror in my cot the other day and I finally got a good look at myself, chubby cheeks, a bit of drool, couple of hairs on my head…wow I’m a stunner, Robert Pattison eat your heart out, you might have serious competition if I decide to take up acting!!!
No wonder Mummy loves me, she’s so lucky to have such a good looking kid, might ease up on the being awake at night kinda getting hard to keep waking up every two hours, must try sleeping longer, what with my movie star looks I need the beauty sleep. With age creeping up on me, it’s all maintenance from now on!!!!!
Expert advice – Baby Sign Language
Baby sign language is the use of sign language in order to communicate with infants and toddlers. While infants and toddlers have a desire to communicate their needs and wishes, they lack the ability to do so clearly because the production of speech lags behind cognitive ability in the first years of life. Proponents of baby sign language say that this gap between desire to communicate and ability often leads to frustration and tantrums. However, since hand–eye coordination develops sooner than acquisition of verbal skills, infants can learn simple signs for common words such as "eat", "sleep" etc before they are able to produce understandable speech.
Expert Advice – Sleep
Your 3-month-old’s nervous system is maturing, and his stomach can accommodate more milk or formula. Those changes should allow your baby to sleep for a stretch of six or seven hours at a time, which translates into a good night's sleep for you.
Expert Advice – Neck strength
Three-month-old babies also should have enough upper-body strength to support their head and chest with their arms while lying on their stomach and enough lower body strength to stretch out their legs and kick.
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Expert Advice – Vision
Your baby will still prefer to look at brightly colored toys. That’s because sharp contrasts are easier to see. Faces are absolutely fascinating to 3-month-old babies. Look at your baby and he will stare back into your eyes. Your infant will also gaze intently at his own reflection in a crib mirror.
Expert Advice –Speech
Instead of crying, your baby is starting to communicate in other ways, such as cooing and making vowel sounds (''oh'' and ''ah,'' for example). Engage your little one in conversation by responding to these sounds and narrating what you are doing when you are together.
By Mayuri Jayasinghe
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