Moot Thoughts & Musings

(Still processing. Try back soon!) Good to go!

I've been trying to collect the different signs Ellis does on video. Here he is signing Bath and then Dirty (fingers wiggling under the chin). Clearly, he needs a bath after yummy spaghetti for dinner. (Funke, that Tshirt is in honor of you.)

He's signing so much these days. We try to keep track of his words. I think he has over 60 signs he uses, and he imitates everything, even if you wag your head funny in conversation. He picks up words as fast as we can give them to him, which keeps us on our toes learning vocabulary in ASL. We have a Deaf Mentor coming as part of our Early Intervention services, and that's helping some of our more complex ASL needs, like grammar and whatnot. We're due for another class; our schedules are so wonky, though, that it's hard to think about how to fit it in.

We do try to go as many events as we can at the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf. Ellis and I (or occasionally daddy) go on Wednesday mornings for the One Year Old Crowd Group. They do some age-appropriate language-building exercises/games and encourage hearing parents with their ASL. It's all pretty low-key, as you would expect for this age group. I enjoy the opportunity to practice signing with the staff and Deaf parents/g'parents.

Last night we went to PSD for Silent Dinner Night. Totally voice-off. It was so fun! We're good enough in our signing that that kind of opportunity doesn't scare us, but still elementary that we have to really concentrate and don't always catch it the first time. Receptive skills are the most difficult for me learning any language. I can encode better than I can decode.

I'm so glad that we have PSD, especially for Ellis's sake, so that he can be around native speakers and not just crazy Mom and Dad. He had so much fun. He wandered all over the room, pausing to watch conversations, waving to people, and generally being charming on all fronts. At one point, one kid hopped up on the stage to be silly, and Ellis toddled right up there, too, staring across the room waving to everyone. We could barely keep him off of there, he loved it. It was hilarious.

People are always impressed by our signing abilities as parents, which is at the same time encouraging and depressing. I mean, it's nice to be congratulated for anything, but we're not that great. Really. So if our abilities are impressive for the typical hearing parent's, that's kind of sad. We have a long way to go. I will say that there's a lot to say for not being afraid of language...any language, even your own. Don't be scared of big words, of using proper syntax, of crafting your style. Love your own language, and then embrace others!