I am so tired of being told that Carrie doesn’t speak yet because we’ve taught her to sign. I’ve lost track, because she’s learned so many this past week, but I can count at least 40 signs that she knows and uses regularly. Sometimes she’ll just sign them, sometimes she’ll sign and point to whatever she’s talking about (if I don’t get it the first couple of times) and sometimes she’ll sign it in response to me saying a word – it’s really cute when you ask her to say “cheese” for the camera and she signs “cheese”. In fact, there are signs I’ve never used with her that she’s picked up off of our Signing Time videos.
I really think she wouldn’t be talking if we hadn’t signed with her, and she’d just be a much more frustrated child because she wouldn’t be able to communicate at all. Because she can sign, she only has tantrums when we don’t let her hold the paper ketchup cup at Wendy’s herself, instead of having tantrums over wanting a banana instead of grapes with breakfast and not being able to tell us.
But I keep having to “defend” my choice to teach her sign to various family members, acquaintances, complete strangers, and even health professionals. Seriously. Just stop, people! I already know I’m a bad mom, so just keep your opinions to yourself! I swear, next time someone asks I’m just going to say that fill-in-the-blank family member is deaf, so we’re teaching her to sign so she can communicate with that person. Oh, and she speaks clearly and in complete sentences, except around people she doesn’t like!