Keith's Amusing Musings

Here is a 3 1/2-minute video of Owen experiencing snow for the first (and second) time while visiting his grandma for Christmas.

Happy Holidays, everyone! Owen turned 39 weeks old today and is just a couple days short of nine months. This has been a week of several firsts for Owen including his first Christmas, his first snowfall, his first baby sign language sign—he now signs ‘milk’ for everything—and the first of his top teeth breaking through. We celebrated Christmas in Chicago where Owen was showered with attention and affection by his grandma and his 19-month-old cousin and everyone in-between.

Here is the headshot.

We started signing with Owen when he was about 5 1/2 months old as part of a free baby sign language course sponsored by a parenting group at work. The course started on September 16 (Week 25) and met every Wednesday, for six weeks, during lunch. We have been fairly consistent with what one would consider the basic, starter signs: : eat, milk and more. Over the last few weeks, he seemed more attentive to the hand gestures we made while speaking to him. This past week (Week 39) he began clearly signing ‘milk.’ The sign is simple enough—like milking a cow—but we were amazed and so proud.

Nine months is about the point many kids make their first sign and Owen started signing ‘milk’ in earnest just short of 9 months. From what I have read, now that he has learned his first sign, he will start picking up new signs more quickly. We are excited he has a way to communicate with us—besides crying—still a year before he is expected to speak.

Check out the Baby Signing Time series if you want to research whether teaching your child sign language makes sense for you. It is very well produced, easy to follow and a fun way to learn another language. Also, Baby Center has a short blurb regarding the “when” and “why” of teaching your baby sign language. I found the member comments helpful while deciding when to start and what to expect along the way. Lastly, one of my colleagues, Scott Hanselman, has an insightful series on his blog detailing the benefits he and his wife witnessed during and after teaching their boys to sign.

Today brings us to week 38 in the life of Owen. There are no major developments this week though he seems to be teething again.

Here is the headshot.

Owen is 36 weeks old today. No new developments to report this week. He is almost back on his normal sleep schedule and his epicurean horizons continue to expand as we introduce new foods.

Here is the headshot.