Baby Sign Language video #1 - 12 Baby Signs To Start With
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- čas přidán 19. 08. 2015
- Baby Sign Language, 12 Baby Signs To Start With, is the first video in our 11 video free course. It introduces the first 12 signs we used with our children along with some fun songs incorporating these signs. To see the full free baby sign course, see our site at www.signbabysign.com .
Among the baby signs covered are milk, food/eat, more, finished/enough, help, book, and ceiling fan.
Another great resource for baby signs is the online dictionary provided by Baby Sign Language.com with over 600 common baby signs. They give a video and diagram of each sign, and you can find it at www.babysignlanguage.com/dicti...
This video is available at • Baby Sign Language vid...
I have posted this comment twice already, but it keeps getting buried inside the other comments, so I am copying it AGAIN here, since so many people have commented on why I would include "ceiling fan" in the video called "12 Baby Signs to Start With".
I feel like a lot of people are missing the point of language acquisition. Learning to sign and/or speak is not just to tell your wants and needs, it's to communicate thoughts. This communication begins with labelling tangible items and continues on to naming intangible items like feelings and colors. The child labels by saying the name of objects around him/her. Being able to label and sign "ceiling fan" is just as valid as being able to label and sign "cow". It's up to the adult to then reinforce the sign, "yes, that's a ceiling fan and it makes us cool, it's like wind indoors" and "no, that's a horse - sometimes we ride on horses". Eventually, the child will move on to saying more about the object. I think so many parents think that signing is just to make their lives easier by helping their child tell them what they want, but it's so much more than that. It allows them to share their thoughts and helps you to realize this is a super smart human being who is thinking all the time. My 8-month-old was looking through a new bath book about water and pointed to a sprinkler then signed "Uncle Tom". At 6 months, we had been in Florida visiting my brother. He had just laid new sod in his yard and every day he would take my 3-year-old and this little 6-month-old and move the sprinklers around, talking to them all the while. I was so amazed when my 8-month-old daughter (a full two months later) made that connection. Did she tell me she wanted some milk? No. But to me, this was a much more revealing and interesting point of communication than "milk". Since very young children are often on their backs getting changed or just hanging out, I think they often see ceiling fans and honestly I think they are very interesting to them. It also helps that it's a relatively easy sign to make. So, signing ceiling fan is a way for them to have success with expressive signing which will grow from there. I included it in the first 12 signs because it was the first sign for both of my kids - my older daughter signed it at 8.5 months and my younger daughter signed it at 5.5 months. They both had Daddy as their second sign - within a day or two of ceiling fan. And both had well over 100 signs at a year old and were even stringing them together into sentences.
You can pin your comment so it will stay on top of the other cooments
How ridiculous that you have to explain yourself on your own video. People should be thanking you, not critiquing your content for being irrelevant just because one tiny aspect of your video happens to be irrelevant *to them* ! CZcams brings out the worst in people. Thank you for a fabulous video! BTW, I initially commented to suggest that you pin your comment, but the person above me beat me to the punch. Per Google, here's how to pin a comment from a computer:
Sign in to CZcams.
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Click the menu icon > Pin. If you've already pinned a comment, this will replace it.
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My daughter just started signing "ceiling fan" at 8 months- her first sign. She's not signing for food or milk or anything else yet. You absolutely did the right thing by including "ceiling fan" and I am sorry you're getting some negative comments. Your video is great!
This made me laugh. One of the first things my son was interested in was our ceiling fan, and one of his first spoken words was then "fan". He would make the "around and around" motion while pointing to the fan. Makes total sense to me why it would be included.
Thank you for sharing that experience. Jane
My son just turned a year old on September 27th. I decided to teach him sign language so he can communicate with us and let him know what he wants and needs before he can express himself verbally. He just learned to sign “more” so when he’s eating he can tell me when he wants more and I’m so proud! I tried to teach him when he was around 8 months because someone told me they can start as early as 6 months but he wasn’t having it. 😂 Either way, this is super cool and I think it’s great for a baby to learn to sign so they can communicate! And also maybe know more than one language growing up.
Thanks for sharing your story. I am so happy for you and your baby. I really encourage you to sign with your baby when you look at board books with him. Before you know it, he will be "reading" - by pointing to the horse on the page and signing horse, etc. It makes that activity so much fun for both of you.
My daughter call all the animals dada 😂 but she signs them different lol... Love the songs! ... Ceiling its awesome cus she stared at that thing for hours 😂
Thank you this is super helpful!
I'm not sure if you will see this, but I just wanted you to know that I am really happy that you explained the importance of teaching words babies will be interested in like "ceiling fan".
I don't have any experience with sign language (which is why I am watching this video), but I do have a lot of experience with infants and toddlers. In my experience, teaching language works best when you teach words the baby will be interested in, no matter what language you happen to be teaching.
As a little story, one of the infants in my care absolutely loved my cat. My cat didn't come out into the main rooms often (little children can make for a loud and chaotic household at times), but every time she did, this little 4 month old baby would start bouncing and wiggling in excitement. Because of this, one of the words she heard most often was "kitty". When she was 6 months old, her first word was "kitty", even before "mama" or "dada".
By the time she was around a year old, she used the word "kitty" to explain any person, idea, or object she loved that she didn't remember the exact word for. It was her favorite word by far. Her vocabulary grew as she got older, but it was an amazing way for her to communicate her ideas when she was very young.
I love the idea of using sign language to communicate with babies. Babies are limited to short, simple words with spoken language when young. Teaching babies sign language helps them communicate ideas that they wouldn't be able to otherwise. I will definitely start using these signs with infants when I can!
Hi Christina,
Thank you for sharing your story. I did not realize how much discussion the whole ceiling fan thing would generate. I'm glad you clearly "get it". I think maybe some people see baby signs as a way to decrease crying by giving the baby a way to express his/her needs. Of course that does happen, but the main goal is for the baby to have a way to communicate his/her thoughts which aren't necessarily needs, as in the case of kitty or ceiling fan, right? I hope that adding signs to your interactions with the children you care brings you lots more fun experiences and stories.
Jane
you are totally a singer!!how a beautiful voice:)
Oh my goodness I love these songs! They’re so cute I’m going to try to sing these to my son! Also thanks for the great tip about signing to the baby while in conversation with him. I really want to start signing to him but I didn’t really know where to start so I’m thankful I found this video
Thank you for this! I have an 8 month old daughter who I’d like to learn with. This is very helpful! Greetings from the Philippines!
Everyone's talking about ceiling fans but no has mentioned that she has two shadows 😲
mi chelle she’s got two lights on her is all.
omg i rea6y lly just forknlgkajdfbkajbf
I LOVE these videos! I took two years of ASL in college, but that was over a decade ago, so I'm a bit rusty. As a first time mom, I also so appreciate your modeling of how to interact with a young baby. And I especially love the songs! Any chance you might make a video or series of sing-and-sign-along songs? My baby was a preemie, so I'm still pumping 5 months out, and these songs are a great way to keep bonding when he's in his bouncer and I'm on the pump.
Hi Sara, You wrote this 10 months ago. My reply is rather delayed. Sorry. I'm so glad you enjoyed the videos. My oldest was born with a cleft lip and palate and I pumped for 14 months and yes, I sang and signed for all that time. It's a great way to keep the baby entertained and the mom occupied during that sometimes tedious task. I got good at holding the funnel things with my elbows so I could sign with both hands. I don't see myself making a sing and sign along series as you suggested. My husband actually put all these videos up online for me in the Spring of 2017and then passed away a little over a year ago. I am so grateful that he got all these up for people to learn from, but I don't really have the know how or energy to lean to do anything more for this myself. I hope your baby is doing well and signing up a storm. Jane
Jane, thank you for making short & simple videos for parents to be able to teach our kiddos! I'm pregnant with one on the way and have bookmarked your page to begin watching these and memorizing them now. I'm so grateful for your simple, easy, and SHORT videos!!! Biggest thanks!
Aunie, Thank you for the the compliment and I wish you all the best as you learn and use ASL to communicate with your baby and gain access to the amazing thought processes he/she will have at a surprisingly young age.
Great video!! Me and my 20 month old daughter are just starting to learn sign together. This video was super helpful 😊😊😊
this is super helpful! Thank you!
We've been loosely doing "milk" since our almost 9 month was born and I'm surprised that he picked up on it so quickly (introduced around 7 months and signing by 8.5!).
If he is already signing, he will pick up new signs quickly - sign all the time and you will be intrigued by all he has to say.
I loved this video ❤️ very helpful. Thank you!!
Every pregnant mother should watch this. What a *fabulous* video, Jane! What makes your video stand out from similar videos is that you show your viewers what babies might do/what the natural progression of how they attempt to sign certain words might be. Also, your song was a huge bonus 😍 This is actually my second time watching your video. I came back to learn the song. Your children are so lucky to have such a loving mom. Thank you for taking the time to educate us!
Thank you so much for your kind review. Happy signing! Jane
The genuine enthusiam when you're singing makes me believe you are an amazing mom! Great video, Thank you! Oh, i would love to see you make an album of childrens songs as you have a wonderful voice, the songs are catchy, educational and fun! Just a thought.
I love this video. Thanks!
Love the songs 💖 more of this please
Thank you for this video! You have a great voice too!
Kristi Yang Ya know... she actually really does. It’s soothing in a way.
My 11 month old loves ceiling fan! That’s her favorite sign especially since she sees one in every room!
I am deaf and I am currently working on my master's degree. This is NOT how you sign ceiling fan. I am more than happy to show you the right sign.
you sing very well 😁
Great video!!! Thank you for taking your time to teach others :) I have a 6 year old granddaughter and a 6 month old grandson. This is one more tool to stay close, have fun and learn at the same time.
Thanks. I’m so glad you are able to use and enjoy the baby signs with your grandchildren. My husband and I loved signing with our own babies. I shot these videos about 12 years ago and never did anything with them. My husband, who was very sick at the time, made the effort to get them up on the web as he knew it was something that I’d always wanted to happen but never got around to (mainly because I didn’t know how). He passed away last April and I am so grateful to him every time I get a comment like yours.
TY NICE JOB W COLOR BLOCKING VISIBLITY &
TURNING 2 SHOW SIGN FROM SIDE!
LOVELY VIDEO, CALM & CLEAR & FUN!
Thank you for the compliments! Jane
@@janerosenberg2852 YW!
WISH ALL BABIES
LEARN 2 SIGN B4 SPEAKING!
SO MUCH SAFER &
PRECISE COMMUNICATION!
& IMO SIGNING BABIES
LEARN HOW 2 LEARN
EARLY &
BENEFIT 4 EVS!
✌😎👍
this is amazing!!
Good job
I am a big fan of baby sign language! Did classes with my son from 6 months old and recently made a video of him showing what he’s learnt! I’d love to know what you think if you have time x
Sure, I'd love to see it! Jane
Is it on your channel? I'm glad I read your comment because now I'm going to consult with Google as to where I can go to learn sign language with my baby :) He's 8 weeks old, and I'm looking for activities we can do together when he gets a little older.
My 1 yr old just signed to me his sign for ceiling fan today! It's him waving his hand around over his head. He also started doing the "more" sign perfectly, but I can't figure out what HE means by it, he did it when wanting to get down from the high chair.
That’s so exciting! Overtime you will definitely understand what he means when he signs. It’s just like when they begin to talk you don’t always know why they are saying what they are saying, but eventually you will figure it out. Maybe he wanted to get out of his highchair so he could do “more” of what he was doing before he was in his highchair??
You should make more videos!!
Awesome video
I just want to say THANK YOU for this video!!! I've always wanted to sign with my baby, but i just had so much trouble figuring out how to incorporate it into my daily life, especially cos I was often one handed when I needed to sign "diaper" or "all done" or something. Your song demos and one-handed breastfeeding demos were GREATTT. And i LOVE that you incorporated ceiling fan! So many of the " first signs" talk about animals but we live in a city and my baby is never going to see a cow or horse until she's pretty old
Hi Laura, Thanks so much for your comments. I'm glad my tips have helped you to feel confident that you too can sign with your baby. Maybe your child won't see an actual farm animal on a daily basis. but they are everywhere in childrens' books, toys, clothing, and videos. You can still use those signs as well. If you point to the animal on page three of the farm book and consistently say and sign cow and then you say and sign cow when you are playing with your childs' stuffed animal, and you sing old McDonald's farm and sign cow and moo, all these experiences will build in his/her mind and the concept of "cow". We all know what a koala is, even though I am not sure I have ever seen one in real life. They aren't usually in zoos in this country. Have fun signing with your baby!
Is this asl bsl or makaton
Replying to this a year late, but it may be relevant to someone still. It is ASL-based. BSL (British Sign Language) very different from ASL (American Sign Language). Those who know ASL cannot communicate any better with someone who knows BSL than I can communicate with someone who speaks Chinese (which I do not). Well, with the exception that ASL and BSL users will be much better at miming than the average Joe. Makaton is based on BSL, from what I understand.
As an aside, FSL (French Sign Language) is much closer to ASL than any other signed language. It shares about 40% of its signs. This harkens back to the early 1800s when Thomas Gallaudet decided to start Deaf education in the US and travelled to England to get some help on how to do that. They were not very helpful, so he moved on to France, where he met Laurent Clerc, who was deaf and came to America to help Gallaudet set up the first school for the Deaf. Deaf Americans already had their own sign languages which varied depending on where they lived. There was a fairly large deaf community on Martha's Vineyard. These American signs sort of got mixed with the French Signs that Clerc used and that is how ASL happens to be much more related to FSL than to BSL.
My son is non verbal and the speech therapist said not to do more should we still do it? For like more play or more cookie?
these two speech therapists say the opposite, that sign language speeds up verbal and reading abilities czcams.com/video/XnvDC6HiaBk/video.html
I agree with this statement.
Jessica Berry The babie is not doing it.
Jessica Berry and it was like a good thing you can do it
Jessica Berry Never hold your child back from learning. Teach her or him as as much as you can. No one knows what your child is capable of doing better than you.
Aww, what a great mom 😊
I'd like to know where can I get the lyrics and the songs, thank you.
Mostly, they are songs that I learned in my childhood. If you google them, you may possibly find the lyrics (which could vary from mine, since I just sing them from memory).
Thanks for reply. could you tell me the song name, thank you
@@yifangliu She probably doesn't know the names, as she just remembers them from her own childhood. Just Google key words from her lyrics :)
No words on screen making it impossible for someone who can't hear to learn what you're teaching. Otherwise it's great :)
Can do finished at the end...
At what age can you start teaching sign language ?
You can start signing on day one - or as soon as possible, if you haven’t started already. Babies may start to sign, I have read, as early as 6 months. My older daughter started signing back to us at 8 months and my younger daughter at 5.5 months. Both had well over 100 signs at a year and were able to string together two and three signs to make full sentences.
Just as you would not start to speak to your child at one year old, because you read that is about when he/she will start speaking back, you don’t wait to sign to your baby till an age when he/she might sign back. Start now! Children understand both your speech and signs way earlier than they sign back. But they need the input. If you learn more signs every week and practice them by signing them every time you speak them, your vocabulary will be sufficiently large so that your baby will be develop a large sign vocabulary as well. You will be happy to know so many signs when you are at the zoo, at a farm, reading books, etc. Learn all the signs I teach in my videos and make up some of your own to label your pets, special friends, etc.
Good luck and have fun!
Jane Rosenberg thank you so much my daughter is almost two weeks !! I’ll start today
I came across this video 6 weeks ago. My kid was 10 1/2. She's about to be 1 and WOW!! This helped! Less crying and more fun between us.
Thanks for letting me know. I am very happy for your and your baby. Keep it up and she will know all the signs on these videos in no time. It's really fun when they start putting two and three signs together to make a sentence. And when she starts to talk, the signs will help clarify her vocalizations.
Birth
How early should I start?
Just cutting and pasting my answer to another person's similar question: You can start signing on day one - or as soon as possible, if you haven’t started already. Babies may start to sign, I have read, as early as 6 months. My older daughter started signing back to us at 8 months and my younger daughter at 5.5 months. Both had well over 100 signs at a year and were able to string together two and three signs to make full sentences. Best of luck to you!
Nice video! Milking a breast, in general, be it cow, human, dog, or what other mammal you wish, is more correct.
Good point! I have just never heard a cow’s utters referred to as breasts.
Why wud a baby sign " ceiling fan"? Or did I miss something?
Hi Jane, do you still read the comments here? I'd like to tell you why I loved having ceiling fan in my baby's vocabulary!
Hi Hélène! Yes, I do still read the comments here. I was away from home, however, and have not figured out how to respond to comments on my phone. I had to wait till I was at a computer. So please DO tell me your story when you have the time. Thank you, Jane
@@caseyrosenberg6784 Hello! Simply that I really loved the idea of teaching my daughter a sign that is never taught in baby sign language workshops and books, yet a thing that all babies love (ceiling fans are fascinating to them). From a very early age, I was able to make her so cheery just by signing fan, she would look up and smile. She now uses about 20 signs (16 months old) and fan is one of her favorites, spinning her little hand when we arrive in a new place that has a fan (yay, so exciting!).
We speak both English and French in our house, her receptive language is incredible in both languages but she doesn't yet say words, so signs are invaluable. Thanks for adding this fun, original sign to our vocabulary.
Thank you so much for sharing that story! A lot of communication in the beginning is simply the child’s interest in sharing what they notice. We do this with them all the time. As we drive along we point out the cows in the field, the dog walking down the street, the moon in the sky, etc. Our children just want to share with us, what they are seeing too. “Look Mommy, a ceiling fan!” Try adding in some adjectives - colors, pretty, big, etc. that will make looking at books so much more fun. “Where is the yellow car? No, that’s the red car. Here is the yellow car. Look, your shirt is yellow.”
@@janerosenberg2852 Fantastic! We do this all the time with spoken words. Do you mean signs? Signs for colours?
Yes, you can speak to her in English or in French and sign as you say the words. So if you are speaking French, sign "house red" and if you are speaking English, sign "red house" - just follow your speech. As you learn more signs, just sign what you know, when you are talking to her, singing to her, reading to her - nouns, verbs, adjectives. Don't worry about the other words in the sentence. Over time, your child will string more two or three signs together and really be making herself understood.
Like to make him do two word sentences
Hi Jessica, How old is your son? Why does the therapist say not to use signs with him? I was a speech therapist for many years. Jane
Jane Rosenberg he's 2 they said not to do signs like more they said because then he would have to say more whatever and they are worried that would confuse him I'm going to teach him "again" on Monday
i got a family member with a deaf child and they do jack shit to teach him and it pisses me off. people like you should have a local job , i am thankful for what you do
I'm sorry for the child you are speaking of and for the family who is missing out on having a real relationship with him/her. I worked in a school that had a large program for deaf and hard-of-hearing kids for many years. It was very sad to see just how many parents could only communicate on a rudimentary level with their deaf children. During meetings, we had to provide a sign language interpreter for the parents to speak with their own child or the child's teachers (if they were deaf).
I recently had the pleasure of having brunch with two of my old students. They are now in their 30's and very successful. One owns his own business and the other has a high ranking job in a well-known company. They each own their own home and one has a family of his own. They were talking about other kids who were in their graduating class. The majority of them are not what these two young men deem "successful". They are either unemployed or still living with their parents or working in a very low paying job. After discussing this issue with each other, they turned to me and asked me why I thought they were successful when almost none of their other classmates is. I told them that to me the answer was obvious. The successful ones had families who signed to them and included them in all the family activities.
They thought about it and decided I was right about that. And I think they realized how lucky that are to be able to have a conversation with any member of their family. It makes all the difference.
very interesting, again thank you :) you are amazing @@janerosenberg2852
Can you please share the sign for "mom", too? You are assuming that the baby has a mom and dad, and not two moms, or another family dynamic. Thanks.
Hi Rebecca,
You are right, every family is different. My old children's cousins have two moms. The truth is, the sign for "mother", "mom", "mama", and "mommy" are all the same. But in your child's mind, clearly there are two distinct parents and they will want to have two distinct signs. We ran into this with grandma and grandma. We wanted to differentiate between the two. Of course you will always be speaking with your signing, so that differentiates "Mom" from "Mommy" or "Mama" or whatever names you have chosen. But for your child to be able to clearly differentiate, expressively, I would suggest making up a sign - much like Deaf people make up sign names. If you or your wife/partner have a distinctive feature (glasses, dimples, long hair, curly hair, spiked hair, you could use that feature to make the name. You can watch video 5 (Signs for People in Your Life) and get some more ideas. One other idea that comes to mind is you could sign one parent with the thumb at the chin (ASL for "mother" and all its nicknames) and sign the other parent using the same handshape but with the thumb at the cheek, like where a dimple might be (doesn't matter if she has dimples or not). A couple of possible issues are 1) they are similar and close together, so the child may not make them distinct enough and sign both at the corner of the mouth or something 2) since it is a common occurrence that babies sign "mom" with one their index finger instead of the "5 handshape with the thumb at the chin", there may be confusion (with that second "mom" sign I suggested), and "candy". But we had confusion between "mom" and "water". It's not a huge deal. You probably won't be giving your baby candy anyway, so it's not that major of a confusion. Funny story: We gave my daughter, Melanie, the sign name "M at the cheek, because of her dimples". Well, babies can't really make an "M" handshape so she (and later her younger sister) signed it with an "A" handshape, but it was clear to us that they mean "Melanie" with that sign.. Unfortunately, that sign (with the A handshape) happens to mean period/menstruation in ASL. It wasn't a problem, really, until we went on a trip back east and visited with my friends from graduate school and colleagues from my old job (Deaf and hearing) all of whom sign. At first they were confused, then amused. Thank you for asking this question. I hope my answer helped. Have fun signing with your baby!
@@janerosenberg2852 😂
Too much talking for me.
Oxi
Why don't you sign the numbers?
Good question. Most kids under the age of two, in my experience, don't use numbers much, so that is why I did not include them. They might hold up one finger or two fingers to indicate their age. They might even count up to 10, but they are not usually doing a lot of counting or a lot of math at that age. The numbers one, two, four, and five, are just as you might guess. Three is made with thumb, index and middle fingers up. Six is made with the pinky and thumb touching (much like most hearing people would gesture "three"). If you want more numbers, you can google it. Since most kids are only going to sign for a couple of years - until they talk well - they can get by fine with the hand numbers that non-signing kids use. I have a song that incorparates those numbers in the very first video. Good luck!
@@janerosenberg2852 I know how to sign, I was just looking up vlogs for a project in my signing class. Thanks, though...
My baby is 8 months old - is it too late to start?
No, it's not too late! Even if your baby starts to talk a bit, the signing can help tremendously. He/she will be able to sign more intelligibly than he/she will initially speak. When my second daughter started to speak, we couldn't understand her half the time, so we would ask her to sign it to us and then we would understand. Eventually she spoke clearly and dropped the signs.
We don't have any ceiling fans and they are not common in the buildings around here. I'm glad it's an important (#1?) first sign for YOU, but I think you fail to understand how irrelevant it might be to many people, especially if their children learn signs much slower than your children did.
You lost me at ceiling fan... Really?
Rebecca Masse Same
Elena Santiago hahahaha
? What’s there to lose? It’s for babies and of babies can get it and you can’t that says something about you my dude.
Really?
What does the fan mean?
“Fish” and “fan” for a baby?
Why does your baby need to know ceiling fan. I mean introduce it sure but to implement in the first 12 words.
I wrote this in response to another response, but it's sort of buried, so Here it is again ...
I feel like a lot of people are missing the point of language acquisition. Learning to sign and/or speak is not just to tell your wants and needs, it's to communicate thoughts. This communication begins with labelling tangible items and continues on to naming intangible items like feelings and colors. The child labels by saying the name of objects around him/her. Being able to label and sign "ceiling fan" is just as valid as being able to label and sign "cow". It's up to the adult to then reinforce the sign, "yes, that's a ceiling fan and it makes us cool, it's like wind indoors" and "no, that's a horse - sometimes we ride on horses". Eventually, the child will move on to saying more about the object. I think so many parents think that signing is just to make their lives easier by helping their child tell them what they want, but it's so much more than that. It allows them to share their thoughts and helps you to realize this is a super smart human being who is thinking all the time. My 8-month-old was looking through a new bath book about water and pointed to a sprinkler then signed "Uncle Tom". At 6 months, we had been in Florida visiting my brother. He had just laid new sod in his yard and every day he would take my 3-year-old and this little 6-month-old and move the sprinklers around, talking to them all the while. I was so amazed when my 8-month-old daughter (a full two months later) made that connection. Did she tell me she wanted some milk? No. But to me, this was a much more revealing and interesting point of communication than "milk". Since very young children are often on their backs getting changed or just hanging out, I think they often see ceiling fans and honestly I think they are very interesting to them. It also helps that it's a relatively easy sign to make. So, signing ceiling fan is a way for them to have success with expressive signing which will grow from there. I included it in the first 12 signs because it was the first sign for both of my kids - my older daughter signed it at 8.5 months and my younger daughter signed it at 5.5 months. They both had Daddy as their second sign - within a day or two of ceiling fan. And both had well over 100 signs at a year old and were even stringing them together into sentences.
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It is silly to call this baby sign language!!!! They are all Sign Lanuage signs used in ASL. Would you teach your kid English with baby english???
lol her childs first word was ceiling fan...im sure her children were just shaking their hands around. Why would you have so many conversations with your child about ceiling fans that it becomes their first word
If you, like we, have a ceiling fan in the room where you change your baby's diaper, in the main family room where you play with your baby on a daily basis and he/she is not yet sitting up, and in the bedroom, there are actually A LOT of discussions about ceiling fans. When my first child signed it at 8.5 months, I knew she was signing ceiling fan. It was just obvious to me. Once your child begins to sign, you will see a consistent pattern. Maybe others see "shaking their hands around" but you will recognize the sign.
When my second child signed it at 5.5 months, I was dubious. My husband was sure and I told him that I had never seen any documentation of any child signing before 6 months and even that was extremely rare. That next day, we were in a restaurant and the baby was in a high chair across the table from me. At some point, she started making that same motion again. I pointed out to my husband that she was making that sign again, but clearly the ceiling fan in the restaurant was behind her and so it was likely that she was just babbling. Signing babies do that, just as they babble before they speak recognizable word patterns. A few minutes later, I went over to adjust her bib. As I crouched behind her to adjust her bib, I noticed that she was looking directly into a mirror (that had been behind me) that basically reflected only the ceiling fan and YES, she was signing ceiling fan. I couldn't believe it. Within the week she had about 4 other signs. Once you get cone sign, and you have been signing all along, often the floodgates open and you start to get a lot more.
You are not the only person to ask about this. I encourage you to read my other post about why ceiling fan is a valid and important sign (if there are ceiling fans in your home). The point here is language! Read my post below to learn more. Thank you.
I'm sorry but why would you teach a baby a sign for ceiling fan? Waste of time. #1 should you know, be mom, dad, drink, thank you, to name a few!
Sara, you will find the reply to your question just below this. Please read the whole answer and the replies that other moms posted and I think you will understand my reason for including ceiling fan. Thanks, Jane