Ben does the 'flat-palm-on-the-chest' sign for dog (it should be 'flat-palm-on-the-thigh,' which if you consider it makes quite a lot of sense for 'dog') and he does the 'tips-of-fingers-touch-thumb' or 'quack' motion for a ducks and geese. I was vaguely saying "oh that's right dear, there are some birds" when filming him because I thought he'd just seem some songbirds. There was actually a skein of geese flying overhead, and so his sign was more accurate than I gave him credit for.
He signs for 'dog' when he hears Polly sneeze in another room, he signs 'duck' for rubber duck, mallard in stream, goose... it's amazing watching him thinking out loud with his signs. He only makes the one noise for both, though, "DA!" - which could be the noise for 'look at that interesting animal!'' for all I know. It gets said with increasing emphasis until you agree with him, I know that much.
we never got round to sign language - but that looks really useful! All we get is 'there, there' - then we have to try and interpret..
ReplyDeleteIt is fun watching him learn new signs - he's figured out 'cat' now, (was previously a dog, as are all four legged creatures and also most characters on "sesame street"). It's not exhaustive, but it is nice having a way to communicate with him. And it is funny that everything STARTS as "dog" and then we parse it down from there.... I think "Things that are not Dogs" would be a good autobiog title, don't you? :)
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