Sign language - yay or nay?

I'm an involved parent. I enjoy teaching my children. I admit, I find a great deal of satisfaction as each one meets certain milestones - especially if they are early in doing so. And yet, until my fourth child, I never understood the whole fascination with teaching babies sign language. I'd done a bit of research, only to conclude that some babies who learn sign language speak earlier... and some speak later. The research was less than convincing. And since I'm not really (okay, maybe a little) concerned at how early my child speaks, teaching a baby sign language seemed more work than it was worth, especially since all of my children were early talkers to begin with.

And then I met Jane. She's my niece. Her mother taught her sign language, and indeed, she is way more verbose than her almost 3 years would suggest. But that's not why I decided to teach Eve sign language. Here's why:

1. It's so darn cute. Watch any pre-one-year-old sign "more" or "milk" and I dare you to disagree.

2. Whether they speak earlier or later than the norm, they are communicating earlier. And honestly, isn't that the whole point of talking? Even when most kids begin speaking, their speech is barely intelligible, rendering a caregiver helpless at guessing what it is they are trying to communicate. With just a few simple signs such as "eat", "drink", "more", "outside", and "sleep", Eve could forego the crying and give me an idea of exactly what she wanted. Nice.

3. When kids who learn sign language do begin to speak, they combine the speech with signs. So, when Eve says "abay", instead of me being utterly confused, she sends her hand flying over her head and I know she's saying "airplane" and can reinforce her by repeating it. Minimizes frustration from a fourth child who's just trying to get a word in edgewise. Let's face it, if I have to ask her to repeat something several times, I'm just going to give up amid the clamor of the other three.

4. Being the fourth child, with one-on-one time at a minimum, Eve really benefited from having a bit of focused time with mom other than the obligatory two or three books before nap and bedtime.

5. The older kids picked up on sign language and enjoyed being able to communicate with their youngest sibling. Rather than just being the "baby" they viewed her as more of an equal when they realized just how much she understood.

So, while I don't regret not teaching sign language to my other kids because they really didn't need it, I am SO glad I taught it to Eve. She's dropped all but a few signs in favor of spoken language now, so I wanted to record the experience before it vanished completely. And thanks, Jane, for being the adorable bit of inspiration that made me a convert.

Chamber choir reunion.

Everytime a regularly blogging friend starts blogging less regularly, I assume she is pregnant. I've written two posts this month. But I AM NOT PREGNANT! Thank the heavens. I've got enough on my plate right now.

Earlier this summer, I had the pleasure of attending a reunion with members of the Chamber Choir from my senior year of high school. Out of 28 members, 21 showed up. It was awesome. We talked, ate, sang, talked some more, had a performance by members of The Jets (of 80's fame), and just plain enjoyed one another's company. Occasionally I forget how old I'm getting, but this experience was a bit of an eye-opener in that arena. And yet, it was strangely refreshing to see that a group of people embodied with so much talent, with all the hopes and dreams of typical high school seniors are now all grown up and living rather ordinary lives. I know that sounds weird. But frankly, I have found the most immense joy from this period in my life that to so many probably seems, well, ordinary. We've all done some pretty exciting things - but exciting doesn't always equal happy. And it was so liberating to see that in my high school peers.

Sometimes it takes reuniting with those who knew you years ago but with whom contact was all but lost to bring attention to the changes you have made during that span of time. And awaken you to the ones you have not.
I still fail to compliment people as I should.
I don't mind being alone/by myself anymore.
I don't need to be the center of attention.

Thanks to Josh (and all others involved) for organizing an event that will leave a lasting impression. What a joy it was to see everyone and realize, once again, how much love I have for these choir friends of mine. Until next time...
Oh, and one of these days I'll snag the pictures that were taken that night and post them. We took one of the entire group and placed it in a frame next to the one that was in the '95 yearbook. Astounding. I, of course, look exactly the same. :)

Chef for a week.

A friend of mine included Anna in a sewing class for seven-year-olds during the month of June. I followed it up with a weeklong cooking class for the same group of girls. What fun we had! I'm a big believer in teaching kids (while they are young) important skills like opening cans, browning hamburger and the like for two reasons:
1. When I'm preparing dinner in the evening, I can assign them said tasks while I get to work on matters that require greater maturity (like chopping vegetables, cooking with hot oil and such). It is a sight to see one daughter grating cheese, another browning hamburger and the third setting the table. I get help in the kitchen and the girls get a sense that they contributed something worthwhile to the family. I love it.

2. Part of raising children means equipping them to be on their own someday. Right? I'm amazed by the number of parents that simply don't get that concept and baby their kids forever and a day. Anyway, by the time kids are teenagers, it will have been too late to teach them such things because they are either too busy or they just plain don't care. I choose to teach them when they are just barely capable because they still have enthusiasm for doing "big kid stuff".

I try to include my kids in household tasks on a regular basis - but teaching this class convinced me that setting aside specific time within which they can practice without having to worry about deadlines (such as dinner's got to get on the table right now!) worked well for my kids. Made them feel special instead of just my personal slave, if you catch my drift. Teaching children is all a mind game, really. Anyway, my plan is to do this every summer for the next few years until they are master chefs. Or something like that.

Lovin' summer.

I feel the greatest fulfillment (as a mother, that is) during summer. I hardly get a thing done - except maybe sweeping the floor (three times a day) but no matter - we whittle the hours away with endless fun and a whole lot of water, as the pictures can attest. Yes, we're busy, and the house and laundry are never clean. But, oh, how I love my children and the time we get to spend together.

Misery loves company.

When Lily was two or so, I took her regularly to storytime at the library. She had grown accustomed to "Miss Tammy" shaking her hand during the song with which she opened each and every storytime. But on this particular day, her luck was such that her favorite storyteller inadvertently skipped over her frantically waving hand, busy shaking other kids' hands. Lily lost it. I knew even before the face began to fall and her body started to shake that we were all in for a treat. I made a beeline for the front of the room, grabbed her with one arm (pretty sure I was using the other to hold a nursing Rachel) and carried her from the room, hoping to avoid the inevitable blood-curdling scream that my children are so famous for. We didn't make it. No matter - because apparently the whole experience was very therapeutic for another mother in the room, who came up to me afterward, expressing her relief that hers was not the only child whose scream could cause premature deafness. I laughed.

Similarly today, we arrived at the pool for yet another morning swim team practice for Anna. I gathered a few chairs for me and the three younger ones, then hunkered down for 45 minutes of keeping them alive (bare minimum) and entertained (at best) while Anna swam laps. Within a minute of arranging ourselves, Lily and Rachel erupted in some squabble over who had the My Little Pony coloring book last - an argument that contained a few "You're so stupid"s and the like and ended amicably, but only through coercion, of course. Once settled, a lady behind me remarked - I'm so glad mine aren't the only kids that fight. I laughed again and we chatted for a bit about our kids, our conversation ending in her feeling a little bit less alone in the world, I think.

Now, I pretty much gave up on all pride after having Eve (and am a bit embarrassed that it took four kids to beat it out of me). And though I'm happy to know that my children's behavior - usually interpreted as a parental shortcoming - brings peace of mind to other parents, I can't help but wonder why they would mention it out loud. Maybe they're trying to make ME feel better. In any case, for the sake of putting all other wanna-be supermoms out there at ease, I think I'll put a stop to all housecleaning from here on out. And tomorrow, I'll take all four of them to the grocery store at 5 p.m. with no naps, lock them all in seat belts and deprive them of their rightfully-earned cookie from the nice bakery lady. It's for the good of every mom out there, after all. I'm just making you feel better.