Children's progress

Some of the little kids have been doing interesting things lately. Thought I'd write them down so I can look back and remember.

Jane has, until now, had a funny habit. Say it's signing time, and she talks to me. So I sign, "Signing time, no talking!" So she stops talking and starts whispering. I don't know why kids do this - all three of the younger ones have done the same thing. ANYWAY, this week, in addition to whispering, she'll sometimes start babbling with her hands. She waves them around for a few seconds, then looks at you, expecting an answer. I usually sign, "Oh, I see" back to her, and she looks happy at my response and babbles some more. Totes adorbs.

Sam's been doing something interesting, too. When he was younger, he signed very naturally, and very much the way a deaf person would sign - very visually. Obviously, not totally like a deaf person - he's limited by the quality of role models he gets - but still very visually. Then he learned to read. I hear from other parents that this happens to their kids too - when they learn to read, they forget how to sign ASL and start trying to sign every word, exactly like English. (Ha ha, I'm remembering the time a kid in the branch - who, interestingly, had just learned to read - signed, "I want 2 B a (fingerspelled) h-e-l-p-e-r." I about died. Now I get it. It's what happens when you learn to read!)

The fun thing I'm seeing Sam do is start to go back to some ASL things. Today he was praying something about people all over the world, and he drew the world with his hand and pointed to all the people all around it. Isn't that so much more pleasant than finger spelling "a-l-l a-r--o-u-n-d t-h-e w-o-r-l-d"? (Answer: yes.) (And yes, he would have finger-spelled all those things, even though he knows the signs for all and world.)

Name sign difficulties

We gave our kids name signs a long time ago. It was long before we joined the branch, or had any Deaf friends. We just needed names for our kids, and so we gave them some.

Usually, a sign name should be given by a Deaf person. We knew that. But, some of our Deaf friends have been very kind to point out, parents have the prerogative to name their own kids. So we don't feel too bad about it. Still, some of our picks are a little unusual, and confuse people sometimes.

So, now that we're a little smarter, we're thinking about changing some of our kids' name signs.

A lot of families will have a family theme. For example, each kid's initial on the same part of the face. Like tapping their initial on the chin or the cheekbone. In our family, Ellis's name sign is our favorite - an E on the chin, like the sign for "mom" with an E. (If you know Ellis, you can guess why she got that sign! She loves being the mom!!)

www.lifeprint.com

So, I had this thought yesterday that we could do all our kids on the chin. And it could be so awesome, because an L under the chin means "pogi" in the Philippines - pogi means guwapo. Hot stuff. All that and a bag of chips. Perfect sign for Lige!

See! Isn't that a pogi fellow ^^ :)

So, I showed it to Marriner. His face immediately showed that it wasn't a great idea. I was so let down! Why not, I asked.

Well, in ASL it means Lesbian.

Oh well. Guess we'll let that one go.