Prodigy Child

Let me just begin the post by stating that at her last Doctor's appointment, my child ranked in the 88th percentile for head size. Keep in mind that she ranked in the 48th for weight and 73rd for height. Needless to say, her head is a little disproportionately large for the rest of her. (Boy am I glad I had a C-section!)

The only possible explanation for her excessively large head must be her smarts, right? Yes, that must be it. And I have the story to prove it!

Before Adalyn was born, we purchased a book about baby sign language. I had thumbed through it a little and decided it was something we'd like to try with our baby. I learned a good deal of sign language when I was in 5th grade because I was fortunate enough to have a hearing-impaired student in my class, and surprisingly I remember quite a bit of it. I just picked up the book again a couple days ago to see when they recommend beginning to use signs around your baby, and what sort of approach to use. It said it's best to begin between six and eight months of age and to expect your child to begin signing back about two months later. It said if you begin earlier, a child may begin signing as early as six months old. The only sign we have used around Adalyn so far is the sign for milk. You make a fist with your hand then release and repeat a time or two, like you're milking a cow. Adam and I have been pretty sporadic with using it, but Adalyn's Grandma Carol uses it pretty consistently. After reading a little more in the book, I decided it was probably time to start using a few signs on a more regular basis.

This past weekend, we visited McCall so Adam could ski and Adalyn and I could relax after a week of being sick. We drove up after work on Friday and arrived at about 10:00. Adalyn slept the whole way and was ready to eat when we got there. After eating she socialized and played for awhile then we all began getting ready for bed. I crawled into bed and laid Adalyn next to me, hoping she'd fall asleep quickly so Adam could put her in her playpen before he came to bed. But she wasn't having it. She was restless and clearly wasn't ready to tuck in for the night. As I stared at her, questioning what she could possibly want, I realized she was looking at me pretty intently. Instead of the usual looking all around, taking it all in, she was fixated on me. And one of her hands was moving; making a fist, then releasing, making a fist, then releasing, over and over again. I thought, "No, it couldn't be - she couldn't be signing yet." I asked Adam to pay attention to her and whether he thought that's what she was doing. "Well, maybe," he said. "But she just ate. I guess I'll go make her another bottle." When he returned, she gobbled the formula like she hadn't eaten in weeks, then settled right down and went to sleep. We were both dumbfounded. Had our not-even 7 month old baby just communicated with us? Told us what she wanted? Really? It was an amazing feeling! We felt like a whole new world had been opened up to us! And of course we thought we have the smartest child to ever exist.

We've started to introduce a few more signs and Adam says Adalyn has signed "milk" a time or two more. We're excited to give her the chance to effectively communicate before she finds her words. We're not planning to sign every word we speak by any means, just some of the basic words, especially those pertaining to needs. And for those who are skeptical, signing isn't meant to take the place of speech. Research shows there is no delay in development of speech in signing babies compared with those who don't. In fact, sometimes they speak sooner. It should be fun to watch Adalyn as she learns more and more.

And now, for a total change of subject, here are a few photos of our Tootska: