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Since people have asked, the story of the Junebug's signing:
Mr. E studied ASL for years, and though he would not say that he is fluent in it, he used to be able to "get by", though he's out of practice now. Still, he loves the language, and he wanted us to teach the baby sign. So he wanted me to take a class. He really wanted me to learn ASL so we could better teach the baby. And in a moment of weakness I agreed to take at least one semester of it. Related to something I was saying elsewhere: I had a moment of thinking, surely I will pull more organization out of my ass somehow and stretch my limits and Learn (it's good to acquire Knowledge, right?) and even though I don't want to, it'll just be one semester. Well, I got pregnant, and I was exhausted, and I was volunteering for FOGcon, and eventually I threw a giant shit fit over the fact that I did not WANT to spend a huge chunk of my last precious free time for six years or so taking an evening class in a language that I wasn't even slightly interested in. And I wasn't going to. Mr. E was obviously angry at me for refusing to do something that I had said I would. But I was angry because I felt like he had badgered me into it. And in the end I simply refused, and he couldn't make me, so there it lay.
In due time the Junebug was born. And then a friend of Mr. E's, who had had a baby about 3 months before us, asked if we wanted to take a baby sign class with them. There was this place that sort of did baby sign Tupperware parties: Mr. E's friend and his wife had six other couples round to their place once a week for a couple of months, and this guy - a hearing guy who had Deaf parents - showed up from the organization, with some songs to sign along to and some flash cards and such, and we had an hour or two of baby sign lessons. So we did it. And it was great. The Junebug and all the other babies were way too young to pick up any of it, of course. The guy taught the parents.
It was great largely just because it was a standing once-a-week social activity with other parents that we didn't have to plan or organize, and we got to see other people and their babies and how they were doing, and get out of the house, and so on. But also it turned out that in a fun social atmosphere I picked up a bunch of baby sign, and enjoyed it. So ever since then, because it became fun, I always used it with the baby, and am always asking Mr. E for more nouns, and the daycare uses it too, so the Junebug has picked up ASL nouns quite naturally. The daycare teachers are the ones who taught him the sign for "diaper".
I'm actually having a much harder time trying to get him to have some Spanish. :( Sign is easy because I don't have to do it instead of English, I can do it at the same time. I mean, I don't know the ASL for everything I say, but I can ask "Do you want some more raspberries, or are you all done with lunch?" and sign "raspberries" and "all done". I guess I could try to say everything twice, once in English once in Spanish. :( Gah, another chore to take on.
Mr. E studied ASL for years, and though he would not say that he is fluent in it, he used to be able to "get by", though he's out of practice now. Still, he loves the language, and he wanted us to teach the baby sign. So he wanted me to take a class. He really wanted me to learn ASL so we could better teach the baby. And in a moment of weakness I agreed to take at least one semester of it. Related to something I was saying elsewhere: I had a moment of thinking, surely I will pull more organization out of my ass somehow and stretch my limits and Learn (it's good to acquire Knowledge, right?) and even though I don't want to, it'll just be one semester. Well, I got pregnant, and I was exhausted, and I was volunteering for FOGcon, and eventually I threw a giant shit fit over the fact that I did not WANT to spend a huge chunk of my last precious free time for six years or so taking an evening class in a language that I wasn't even slightly interested in. And I wasn't going to. Mr. E was obviously angry at me for refusing to do something that I had said I would. But I was angry because I felt like he had badgered me into it. And in the end I simply refused, and he couldn't make me, so there it lay.
In due time the Junebug was born. And then a friend of Mr. E's, who had had a baby about 3 months before us, asked if we wanted to take a baby sign class with them. There was this place that sort of did baby sign Tupperware parties: Mr. E's friend and his wife had six other couples round to their place once a week for a couple of months, and this guy - a hearing guy who had Deaf parents - showed up from the organization, with some songs to sign along to and some flash cards and such, and we had an hour or two of baby sign lessons. So we did it. And it was great. The Junebug and all the other babies were way too young to pick up any of it, of course. The guy taught the parents.
It was great largely just because it was a standing once-a-week social activity with other parents that we didn't have to plan or organize, and we got to see other people and their babies and how they were doing, and get out of the house, and so on. But also it turned out that in a fun social atmosphere I picked up a bunch of baby sign, and enjoyed it. So ever since then, because it became fun, I always used it with the baby, and am always asking Mr. E for more nouns, and the daycare uses it too, so the Junebug has picked up ASL nouns quite naturally. The daycare teachers are the ones who taught him the sign for "diaper".
I'm actually having a much harder time trying to get him to have some Spanish. :( Sign is easy because I don't have to do it instead of English, I can do it at the same time. I mean, I don't know the ASL for everything I say, but I can ask "Do you want some more raspberries, or are you all done with lunch?" and sign "raspberries" and "all done". I guess I could try to say everything twice, once in English once in Spanish. :( Gah, another chore to take on.
