Fun with Signs

Who says you can't communicate using signs?? Not Elijah!

Today I (Sarah) was sitting on my bed, and Elijah came in after waking up from his nap (actually I don't think he ever slept). He signs "sleep" over and over and climbs up on my bed, crawls under the covers and pulls the covers up. Then he signed "lights off please" and told Rachel (who had also just gotten up) and I to be "quiet". He laid there for a couple minutes and kept closing his eyes like this:

Then he sat up and signed "wake up" and "all done sleep". He got out of bed and told us bye, turned the light off and shut the door on us. I opened the door to see him running away laughing. Stinker!

Emotion Signs with Elijah

Sarah here...

Tonight we were practicing emotion signs with Elijah at supper. I'd say he has all the dramatics for them pretty much down. ;)
*For those of you viewing this in your email, you need to click "My God is Lord" below this post to be taken to the blog, then you can watch the video from the blog. The video does not come through emails.

And THANK YOU soo much to every who bought books!!! We raised nearly $100 for Lilly and Owen! :)

Signing "Signing"

Unless you have a child that loves Signing Time (ST), this makes no sense to you.  But, as you saw yesterday from Sarah's post here, Jonathan is now enthralled with watching Baby ST. This is NEW!  I'm so happy.  No, not because it is a free babysitter. I'm happy because I'm hoping it will help him start signing, and much more importantly, communicating, 

So, today, he walked up to the tv and signed "signing" by rolling his hands around in a circle. YAY! Go Jonathan!  Now, granted, I'm not looking forward to when he asks for ST all.day.long like his big brother, but hey, at least he will be expressing his desires, right? ST was/is a HUGE help for Elijah to communicate with us and I'm hoping it will help Jonathan too. Jonathan is now signing "milk" more regularly now too. :-)

Chunky Monkey: Officially Addicted

Sarah here..

The Chunky Monkey is addicted to Signing Time.

Today he was woken up early from his nap by an unnamed-whistle-blowing-sibling, and was in a cranky mood. I turned on Baby Signing Time, and he sat there quietly for the whole thing (30 min), and half-way through when it started over! Then he came to find me with a smile on his face. Nothing like a little Signing to Time to cheer you up!

I have to say - Rachel Coleman is the boy's favorite baby sitter! And, after the initial fee, she babysits for free on short notice!

Jonathan signing!

Sarah here - Elijah and Rachel are signing all the time, and Jonathan is just getting started!! He already has his first 3 signs (if clapping for 'yay' counts!), though he doesn't use them consistently...
Here's a video I took during lunch today on him signing (sorry for my arm being on the way, I had it on my lap):


And yes, I know I'm being very mean and making him sign it... ;)

Not just Elijah! And chunky monkey update!

It's not just Elijah that's addicted that loves Signing Time! Jonathan has recently started taking an interest in the TV.. esp Signing Time. :)

"What are you taking pictures of? What wrong with me? This isn't blog worthy, I just like Signing Time!"

Sarah here..

Jonathan is pulling up on just about anything and everything!! And he's crawling super fast, and walking with assistance (video coming soon!)! He's also getting into everything and doing crazy things like pulling the heat register out of the floor! LOL

He also likes to take books away from the people who are reading them and eat read them himself. But when you are done with a book and hand it to him, he wants nothing to do with it. Same with a toy Elijah or Rachel has. Typical kid!

A smile close to his cheesy smile, but not quite. Just ask his therapists or Me-mom/"Nana" what it looks like! :)

His naughty face - I tell him, I'm not as easily persuaded as Summer (love you friend!) is to let him get away with something if he smiles. LOL But sometimes I lose and he wins! :)

The other day, he was playing with a bag (not a plastic grocery bag!), and I told him not to put it in his mouth, and he gives me his big cheesy grin.  I turn back and he puts it back in his mouth, I turn and tell him to get it out of his mouth. He takes is out and gives me a big cheesy grin. Repeat the sequence several times, and I finally took it away from him. He whined and told me what he thought of me. Stinker-doodle! He may be 1, but boy, does he understand a lot!

He's doing great in therapy, he just started OT (Occupational), along with PT (Physical) and ST (Speech, which also works with him on feeding issues like new textures). No health concerns, besides mama and sissy's arm which are about to fall off from holding E and J, who do not hold on, and treat our arms like recliners!! :) He has gained over 6 pounds since he came home, which is a lot since he was so big already. He also seems to be a lot taller too as of late. He's grown about 3 inches since he got home, but it seems like more than that since he was so floppy. His tubes seem to he helping, he is a lot more alert, and responds to his name a lot more (when he wants to).  All around, he is a happy chunky little monkey! :)

Here's a video of him and Elijah -

Can YOU do this?!?!?

Elijah is ever so slightly addicted to Leah's farm, a Signing Time episode. So much so that he's constantly asking for it, and when he does get to watch it, he watches it like this -

Yup, he is doing the SPILTS, with his legs flat against the cabinet, craning his neck up to see the TV. And if you look closely, his right arm is also twisted around so his palm is facing up.

Can YOU do that?!?!?

Ya, I didn't think so. That's ok, I can't either! :)

Here's a segment from the song - 

Mom's goal is to learn all the signs. :) I'll be sure to post a vid of her doing it here when she has it down... hehe

We love to sign!

Sarah here... Some fun from back home - Enjoy these videos of Elijah signing some of the many signs he knows!!!

Food Signs!



Cracker, Eat/Food, Water, Milk, and Juice!




Names Signs!



Auntie Debbie, Jake, Ben, Sarah, Mama, and Dada!




Sleep, Clothes, and Play!






Brush Teeth, Shoes, and Socks!