Gaius Sign Language - and Strong Opinions

By -

Gaius has been making three signs for several weeks:

1. Up (he does a variation of it with both arms)
2. Tree
3. Lamp

Mara recently noticed that Mommy will point at a street light and make the "Lamp" sign, which caused some long Mommy-Mara conversations where we disagreed. She says those are "Lights", not "Lamps". Mommy believes we can use the same sign for something that produces light. The matter is still open.

Today, Gaius and Mommy were on a walk to buy milk.
Gaius loves trees. And lamps. Whenever he sees a big tree he'll "bring it up" in conversation by making the sign. When he sees a street light he does the cutest "Lamp" sign: right arm up high, then curls
the wrist toward his eyebrow.

ASL sign for:Tree
ASL sign for: Lamp
You can see in the pictures (source: www.babysignlanguage.com) that the two signs are quite similar, especially with a baby's lack of precision. Because of that, sometimes I'll misinterpret his "Lamp" sign as "Tree". But then he looks at me and does it again, more convincingly, and I stand corrected.

This happened today. Except that it was daytime. No lights were on, plenty of trees around is.

Gaius lifted his hand up, then curled his wrists inward.

"Do you see a Tree, Gaius?" I made the Tree sign myself, helpfully.

He looked at me and did it again. Once more, curling his wrist.

"Oh. Do you see a Lamp?"

He held his sign. I followed his gaze. The sun was glowing white through the hazy clouds.

"Oh, Gaius, you're right. That is a light indeed. It is called the Sun. It definitely is a light... We can call it a Lamp. It's a big, big Lamp."

Victory stance!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

But I Will Still Need Your Money

By -
Image
In the past 6 months we've travelled over 27,000 miles, if we were to add up all of our trips with the kids. That's more than the Earth's circumference of 24,901 mi, so we could technically say we travelled around the world. On one of the last trips, our two seasoned travelers Mara and Gaius were so self sufficient: they knew how to handle the security line, and even carried all the luggage in the airport. Elena: Do you guys need us anymore? You carry your own luggage, and Mara already knows how to give the tickets to the airport people. Maybe next time you could just go on your own without us. What do you think? Mara: But I will still need your money. Way to be pragmatic; I guess parents are still good for something. Here's some highlights from our trips (non-chronological):  Seattle Zoo, USA  Space Needle, Seattle, USA Chisinau Airport,  Moldova  Bucovina Monasteries, Romania Palace of Culture, Iasi, Romania - with Andrei!
Read more

Bye Bye 2021, Welcome 2022!

By -
Image
It's a feeling shared by many: quite glad 2021 is over and behind us. This post will rehash some marking events during this long year, both ones we loved and ones we never want to go through ever again, if we could have a say. For those latter ones, we are deeply grateful for the friends and family who were by our side, offering kind words and support when it was needed most, whether from close or far. We started the year with Grandma Tammy still staying with us for several months, during our COVID-19 self-imposed isolation. She brought our family twice as much joy and peace, as conversations exploded in many more combinations than when Greg and I are the only adults around. Fae gained a whole extra year of learnings, just by being around all that, and is now speaking like a four year old at the age of two. For the first part of the year, our friend Chandni taught Mara and Gaius througho
Read more

Giant Fig Tree - Largest in North America

By -
Image
In Santa Barbara, California, thrives a giant. In fact, it is the largest fig tree in North America , the Moreton Bay Fig Tree. Yes, a Fig Tree - with actual figs strewn about, although now with the drought they were not so juicy.  You can lean on its roots, climb up on its trunk till where the branches spread out, or hide between its ridges. A great hide-and-seek spot for both kids and adults.  Here's our family playing between its giant roots; scroll to the bottom to get an idea of the actual scale, which is hard to comprehend. Giant. Two ladies shyly making an acquaintance with the giant.  Here's an interesting thing we noticed about nowadays toddlers: they seem to take amazingness as a common day-to-day thing. Maybe it's because we, the parents, strive to always show them things we find outstanding, so a zebra becomes common. Or maybe they simply enjoy the world at level 100, regardless of whether it's a random leaf in the yard, or a world-uniqu
Read more